A Blue Eyed Buddhist

OMG I just about peed my pants laughing when I saw this news… Sarah Palin gave the keynote speech to the first “Tea Party Convention”. (And for all you teabagger types who proclaim what a grassroots effort the whole Tea Party thing is, did you realize that the convention was for-profit, and that Palin got a six-figure appearance fee?)

And guess what? She put her crib notes onto her hand for the brief Q&A session that followed her speech.

Seriously. I couldn’t make this up:




(see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtcVMTZkTZQ&feature=player_embedded for those who don’t see the video above)

Awesome. In case you think the video is faked, check this out; it’s an AP photo taken during her speech that shows the notes on her palm…

Here’s some closer shots of the notes:

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4014/4337216550_4fc4343589_o.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2793/4337216594_f654772641_o.jpg

And here’s the CNN video of the the incident, and at about 1:23 in she checks her palm where the first word is “energy” and then she rambles on about energy for the next minute or so.

(go to http://cnn.com/video/?/video/politics/2010/02/06/palin.tea.party.qa.cnn for those who can’t see the video embedded.)

So the new Apple iPad is unveiled. And that’s my reaction… “meh”.

I’ve warmed up to Apple products over the years, without becoming a mindless Applevangelist like my friend Luis. (He has a bunch of Apple stock, which has turned out to be a pretty good buy, but even if he didn’t own stock he’d still be showing them the love.)

He wrote a big long post that takes on most, if not all, of the criticisms of the iPad. It’s a good post. But while I think he hit the points well, I find myself unconvinced by the arguments.

My wife has been waiting for the iPad. I bought a netbook computer back some months ago and I just love it. It does everything that I want/need a portable laptop to do, but without tons of extras that would only add weight and more importantly, price. Netbooks are perfect for use on the road, when you don’t want to tote around a heavier computer.

Ginger, though, is a big-time Mac person. Her main computer is her MacBook; it’s old (I don’t even know how old it is) and still runs okay. She could use a more powerful machine, and a bigger hard drive, but lately has been burning a lot of discs and clearing out space, so she’s got more room and is okay with her machine for now.

What she’d really like is something that’s more use on the road- and as a flight attendant, she’s on the road a lot more than the average bear!

So she’s held off from a netbook for a long time, hoping that Apple would put out something pretty awesome.

Now? She’s kind of “meh” when she saw the iPad. Same reaction that I had, really.

Here’s the main thing: Despite the protests of “it’s upgradeable! The software and OS will be changing!” the reality is that even if you upgrade it, it’s still not much more than a bigger iPhone or iTouch-verion iPod. That’s the reality.

No keyboard. Okay, many of us have adapted to typing reasonably well on the iPhone’s virtual keypad, and the much-bigger size of the iPad means it’ll be even easier- but in reality you just can’t touch-type on it. It’s not meant for much more than even light-duty text entry (barring some revolutionary voice recognition software upgrade to the OS.)

Then there’s the utter lack of plugs. It’s kind of funny to see some of the same people who rail against Microsoft as being a lock-out-monopolistic type of company turning around and defending Apple. Apple’s even WORSE about trying to screw over the consumer and make them pay more via a monopoly; Microsoft is content to stick with the software, but Apple wants the software AND the hardware.

So if you want to plug in… well, damn near anything useful, then you’re going to have to use an adapter plug. Memory card from your camera? You’ll need an adapter. Anything USB, from a mouse or keyboard or microphone or external drive or any of about a bajillion other devices that you might want to use? You’ll need an adapter. Network cable so you can get higher speeds? Not even possible (I think- it could be that it’ll work with an adapter.)

You get the point. Basically, as it comes, you have to either want to use it exactly the way that Apple says, or you’ll have to spend extra dough.

And getting to what you can do on it… a lot. It’s a really cool machine in a lot of ways. But what does it really do that an iPhone can’t? Not much; it just does most of the same stuff BETTER. Surfing the web on this will be better than on an iPhone, because it’s got a bigger screen. Reading your email will be better, same thing. Many of the apps for the iPhone will be better, and I’m sure new ones will come out that take advantage of the iPad’s higher-powered CPU… but overall? Meh.

Costs. Here’s where it really sucks. For 200 to 300, maybe 350 bucks, if you’ve already got an iPhone, you can buy a netbook that will do almost anything that an iPad can- and which will do several things significantly BETTER. And that 350 dollar investment in a netbook is at least 150 dollars less than the least-expensive iPad. What does it buy you?

For one thing, a keyboard. Okay, maybe this is more important to me than to you, but I think it’s pretty dang important. It also buys you a built-in camera (facing the user) for use on video conferencing. And the biggie is that it gets you as much as 250GB of storage- compared with the iPad’s measly 16GB.

Oh, but you can get more storage on the iPad. Heck, you can get up to 64GB… of course, that’ll cost you $700. For a Wi-Fi-only version.

What? You thought it came with an almost-everywhere data plan through AT&T Wireless? Well, sure, but that version, with 3G built in, costs more. For the 16GB version with 3G, it’s $630; for the 64GB version with 3G the price is a stunning $830.

And then you’ve got to add the data plan costs; that’s another $30/month. Granted, you could then drop the data plan from your iPhone if you want, and the price would be a wash- but now your iPhone is just another cellphone, with no web surfing or email or even visual voicemail. No apps like Google Maps or a whole host of other apps that need the data plan.

Of course, if you get the netbook, you can simply tether your iPhone to the netbook and it doesn’t cost anything extra.

This, I think, is where the iPad is going to run into the most troubles. Yeah, it’s super-neato-cool. Yeah, it kind of fits into the market in a spot for something even lighter-duty than a netbook. Yes, it’s got superb design.

But holy fucking bank vaults, Batman, the thing is expensive. It’s going to add ANOTHER $30/month to your already-too-high cellular bill, and the costs of the damn thing up front are huge compared with devices that pretty much cover everything it does.

And here’s why I think all of this: If Ginger had really insisted, Santa would probably have brought her an iPad next year. Santa can afford it in our household, even with the additional data plan costs.

But she said “how much is it?” and “I can’t plug a camera memory card right in?” and looked at it, and said “well if we can spend 300 to 500 dollars less up front AND not have to add to our cellular plan, let’s just get a netbook. Do they come in pink?”

Why yes, honey, they do.

http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-Seashell-1005HA-MU17-PI-10-1-Inch-Netbook/dp/B002P3KMYE/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&s=pc&qid=1265098280&sr=1-7

Only question now is whether she has to wait until Santa brings one, or until her birthday in a month or so.

So is the iPad bad? No, not by any means. It’s a pretty awesome device. It’s slick, has cool design, and has a ton of really neato stuff about it. I love my iPhone, and it’s essentially a big iPhone (except without the phone part of it).

But do I want one? Meh. It’s just kind of expensive. Get it down to the 150-400 dollar price range for the 16GB to 64GB storage range and MAYBE it’ll be worth it to me. Until then, not so much.

Normally, attacking a political position by saying that the people who endorse it are evil isn’t really a fair attack. It means that you’re not attacking the position; and they now have to defend their character instead of talking about the position.

It’s usually a way of ignoring the issue and making it about a personal thing instead.

But in this case, I just can’t help myself.

You might have seen these “teabagger” people- the ones who launched the tea party protests last year to express their outrage over… well, I’m not really sure, to tell the truth.

The original tea party in Boston was because the colonists were angry about getting taxed without any representation in the British Parliment; the tea party protests here in the USA last year HAVE representation in Congress and the Senate, it’s just that the guys they wanted elected lost.

In other words, the teabaggers are sore losers who don’t really get how democracy works. But I digress.

The “leaders” of the tea party protests include a lot of scumbags. A perfect example is Sgt Charles Dyer, aka “July4Patriot”, who was a bigwig in the “OathKeepers” subgroup of the teabagger movement.

Mr Dyer was recently arrested for allegedly raping a 7 year old girl. A search of his house apparently turned up a (stolen) grenade launcher along with the typical collection of firearms you’d expect to find in a right-wing, anti-government wacko’s house.

Now, it kind of makes sense that these types are really anti-government; they don’t want the police telling them which children they can sodomize and so forth.

That’s a guy leading the tea party movement. Quality dude.

But the problem is that they SOUND semi-reasonable. They exhort their followers to “enlist” on their web site, and people (who don’t do any research) get manipulated into “signing on” with their goals.

It just kills me to see people who normally wouldn’t associate with scumbags so eager to sign on and follow losers who’re manipulating their emotions.

Step back for a minute, folks, and think. Health care reform- the current bills passed by the Senate and the House would not take away your present plan. It wouldn’t give the government “power” over your decisions, or your doctor, or whoever. It wouldn’t even make most people pay for the costs of ensuring the presently uninsured.

Yet the teabagger types have everyone believing that it’s some kind of huge socialist plot that’s intended on controlling Americans.

Meanwhile, the teabagger leaders are scrambling to cover up the fact that they were associated with accused child rapist Dyer. They’re even lying about the fact that he was ever involved with them (fortunately, the internet has stored proof that they’re covering it up).

The Democratic equivalent? I suppose it’s John Edwards, surprising exactly nobody by admitting he’s actually the father of his ex-girlfriend’s child. (Gee, we’re shocked.)

Wake up and smell the raped children, folks. These “teabaggers” are a bunch of friggin nutjobs, and the Republicans in Congress are using them and their followers to cover up the fact that they don’t have any ideas other than to try and stop the Democrats from actually doing anything that they were elected by a wide majority to do.

You’re going to read a bunch of hype in the political news about how yesterday’s election was a huge, huge deal for the nation. People will tell you that it signifies a giant shift in public opinion, that it means the nation hates the policies that President Obama and the Democratic Party have been putting forward, and that it proves the Republicans have their mojo back.

Don’t believe the hype.

The win by Republican Scott Brown, a teabagger type in Massachusetts (which is said to be a fairly liberal) state, is due primarily to a couple of factors.

First, Brown definitely outworked the Democrat, Martha Coakley. Between the primary and Sunday, Coakley held 19 events. Brown held 66. When you hold three times as many rallies, speeches, and so forth as your opponent does, you’re outworking them. She ran a crappy campaign and frankly, she deserved to lose. Only at the last minute did her campaign recognize the danger and start working hard, and by then it was too late. (Kind of reminds me of how Hillary Clinton took things for granted, and deservedly lost.)

Second, despite what you’ll read about how incredibly liberal Massachusetts is, remember- this is a state that elected Mitt Romney their Governor, for crying out loud. (Granted, he ran much further towards the middle than he did when he was running for the Presidential nomination.) They’re not afraid to be a bit different and elect a Republican now and again.

Third, and perhaps most importantly… the Boston Democratic political machine was even lazier than Coakley was. By and large, they didn’t do anything to help her out. Why? Because she beat the Boston-area chosen candidate in the primary (Mike Capuano). The machine didn’t do diddly of their normal stuff- no fundraising, no GOTV (get out the vote), no phonebanking, no nothing.

The reality is that the old saying about all politics being local was true this time.

In a way, this result is a good thing. It greatly lessens the importance of that turncoat slimebag Joe Lieberman; now that he’s not the 60th vote in the Senate any more, who cares if they piss him off? He’s totally dead meat in the 2012 election (assuming he is stupid and arrogant enough to run again instead of retiring).

In fact, the Democrats would be wise to take a page from the Republican playbook and bounce Lieberman right out of his chairmanship of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. They should either give him the crappiest committee assignment they can think up, or better yet, assign him to zero committees at all and tell him if he wants a slot he should get it from the Republican pals.

Naturally, because the Democratic leadership are a bunch of weenies, they probably won’t do this. (Can you imagine a truly bold, gutsy, brave Democratic party in today’s world, led by guys like LBJ and Sam Rayburn? Healthcare would be done months ago.)

The result also gives the Democrats a built-in excuse; now they can propose endless numbers of popular policies and watch the Republicans filibuster them over and over, thereby taking the blame for stuff not getting done.

The Democrats are paying the price for their lack of boldness. People voted hugely for change in 2008. For Pete’s sake, we elected a BLACK GUY for President. That’s pretty huge for a nation where, about two generations ago, black folks couldn’t drink from public fountains, or sit in certain restaurants, or walk down the street in many states in our country while holding hands with a white person without risking their personal safety.

President Obama has been too careful. He needs to be bold again. He needs to step up. He needs to propose even MORE liberal and progressive policies and then negotiate back DOWN towards the middle with the Republicans, instead of starting at a moderate position in the vain hope that it’ll result in “bipartisanship” (how’s that worked out so far?) and winding up with wishy-washy policies that aren’t much of a change.

While this election has more to do with local factors than national ones, it still holds both warning and opportunity for the Dems. Let’s hope they recognize it and take advantage.