OK, so they didn't actually say that, but for a news service to say they are going to charge for access to their websites is equivalent to the post office raising rates to try to drum up more business. It just goes to show how out of touch the news media is these days. What we have now are all the big wigs that are left over from the big news era who are trying to run the out-dated media giants like they did in the '70's. It's not going to work. We live in the .com world now. News is pulled from Twitter, blogs, and circulated via email quicker than the talking head can finish reading the story. All three of these are free too, so when people have a choice of getting the same news for free or paying for it, they will almost always go with free. Good luck with that Fox. I understand that you are by far the most watched news network, but you will be surprised at how fast people realize they don't need you once they have to start paying for content.
Click here to read the article on ft.com
Random thoughts from long ago...
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Replace our government!
So I would like to put together a movement to replace our representation in Washington with people who will actually represent us. I don't care if they are Republican, Democrat, conservative, or liberal, we need to get these out-of-touch politicians out of office and replace them with people who are still in touch with the 'real world'. You can tell by the town hall meetings that routinely get completely out of hand, that these clowns have no idea what we regular Americans desire from our government. The rules that this movement will live by are simple: If you do not make every law based on our constitution, you will be voted out. If you pass any legislation without reading every single word yourself, you will be voted out. If you attach a single item to a bill that does not DIRECTLY pertain to the subject of the main bill, you will be voted out. And so on. I am so sick of the bloated pork filled bills that get passed by both sides of the isle. Most of the time, none of them even know what is in the bill that they're voting on! I am of the impression that we have too many people getting too comfortable in their seats in Congress and it's time to shake it up a bit. My goal is to present the voting habits of everyone in Congress it in a very simple way so that anyone can see right away if their representation needs to be replaced. If you feel the same way and want to help out, please leave me a comment. Let me know if you have tips, want to donate, can offer help, or just want to tell me it is a stupid idea. So far, they haven't gotten around to voting down free speech so it's all welcome here!
So I would like to put together a movement to replace our representation in Washington with people who will actually represent us. I don't care if they are Republican, Democrat, conservative, or liberal, we need to get these out-of-touch politicians out of office and replace them with people who are still in touch with the 'real world'. You can tell by the town hall meetings that routinely get completely out of hand, that these clowns have no idea what we regular Americans desire from our government. The rules that this movement will live by are simple: If you do not make every law based on our constitution, you will be voted out. If you pass any legislation without reading every single word yourself, you will be voted out. If you attach a single item to a bill that does not DIRECTLY pertain to the subject of the main bill, you will be voted out. And so on. I am so sick of the bloated pork filled bills that get passed by both sides of the isle. Most of the time, none of them even know what is in the bill that they're voting on! I am of the impression that we have too many people getting too comfortable in their seats in Congress and it's time to shake it up a bit. My goal is to present the voting habits of everyone in Congress it in a very simple way so that anyone can see right away if their representation needs to be replaced. If you feel the same way and want to help out, please leave me a comment. Let me know if you have tips, want to donate, can offer help, or just want to tell me it is a stupid idea. So far, they haven't gotten around to voting down free speech so it's all welcome here!
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Dumb Americans?
I was thinking about this the other day and it suddenly hit me: One of the reasons the people in other countries think Americans are dumb (other than the fact that some American's fit this stereotype!) is because we don't know the ins and outs of their specific cultures and languages. Here's the problem with that. They are taught from birth about America. Our language, style, and way of life are everywhere while they are growing up. Picture it this way: the US is like the rock-star or celebrity of the world. When you think about it, every celeb has thousands of fans that know all kinds of information about them, but the celeb knows very little about each fan. It would be impossible for them to know as much about each fan as each fan knows about them. It's the same with America. Love us or hate us, they know about us because we are the world's superpower. We don't know as much about all of the other countries of the world as they do about us, because we don't have the same need to have that information. Just a little something to think about.
I was thinking about this the other day and it suddenly hit me: One of the reasons the people in other countries think Americans are dumb (other than the fact that some American's fit this stereotype!) is because we don't know the ins and outs of their specific cultures and languages. Here's the problem with that. They are taught from birth about America. Our language, style, and way of life are everywhere while they are growing up. Picture it this way: the US is like the rock-star or celebrity of the world. When you think about it, every celeb has thousands of fans that know all kinds of information about them, but the celeb knows very little about each fan. It would be impossible for them to know as much about each fan as each fan knows about them. It's the same with America. Love us or hate us, they know about us because we are the world's superpower. We don't know as much about all of the other countries of the world as they do about us, because we don't have the same need to have that information. Just a little something to think about.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
American Spirit
I want to change the tone here for just a second. As I look around at all the crap going on the world right now, and specifically, in the United States, it would be easy to throw up my hands and give in and admit that the U.S. is going to become a communist country. However, although in many ways, our government continuously stabs us in the back, I think the vast majority of Americans still believe in the capitalist, American dream that has turned us in to the superpower that we are. I believe that most Americans still want the government to stick to protecting the country, building roads, and policing the streets. Otherwise, they would like the government to stay the heck out of their business! It makes me smile to see Americans thriving even in the economy we have now. Sure we have our pockets of liberals who are crying to the government to bail them out, but most Americans who have lost their jobs look at it as an opportunity to start fresh. Times like these are breeding grounds for innovation. The people who didn't have time to finish planning their life changing invention because they had to go to work everyday, suddenly have all the time in the world. Others who have been trying for years to finish writing that novel will finally get the chance. It really reminds me again of what makes me love the people of this country so much. We don't give up. As bad as things look now, somewhere in the back of our minds we know that all we have to do is keep moving and eventually it will get better. Don't loose hope America, and remember, only through the fire can the gold be refined.
I want to change the tone here for just a second. As I look around at all the crap going on the world right now, and specifically, in the United States, it would be easy to throw up my hands and give in and admit that the U.S. is going to become a communist country. However, although in many ways, our government continuously stabs us in the back, I think the vast majority of Americans still believe in the capitalist, American dream that has turned us in to the superpower that we are. I believe that most Americans still want the government to stick to protecting the country, building roads, and policing the streets. Otherwise, they would like the government to stay the heck out of their business! It makes me smile to see Americans thriving even in the economy we have now. Sure we have our pockets of liberals who are crying to the government to bail them out, but most Americans who have lost their jobs look at it as an opportunity to start fresh. Times like these are breeding grounds for innovation. The people who didn't have time to finish planning their life changing invention because they had to go to work everyday, suddenly have all the time in the world. Others who have been trying for years to finish writing that novel will finally get the chance. It really reminds me again of what makes me love the people of this country so much. We don't give up. As bad as things look now, somewhere in the back of our minds we know that all we have to do is keep moving and eventually it will get better. Don't loose hope America, and remember, only through the fire can the gold be refined.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
A response on "Bad" words
You can read the post here to which I am responding. This is a great blog by a close friend of mine, I just happen to disagree with him on this issue. I have included here my original comments made on his blog:
As for Christians, however, I believe Jesus would have some very strong words if he heard one using foul language. There are words that our culture considers to be 'bad' words, and as Christians we should want to avoid using those words so as to not offend, or cause to stumble someone who is less mature in the faith. We also don't want to give the impression that we are no different than 'those who have no hope'. Here's where the balancing act comes in. We want to be different, but we should never take pride in being different. We strive to be holy, but should never say 'I'm more holy than you'. We must be clear in our own heads that the reason we don't speak like that is because we feel there is more expected of us, not that we are too good for it. When a non-Christian is surprised at the foul language he hears from his friends mouth, there is something wrong with that picture.
It all boils down to this: We are on this earth with everyone else. Everyone has sinned and the only difference between a Christian and a non-Christian is that God has called the Christian, and the Christian has responded to that call. Both are still flawed, and both struggle with what is right every day, but God expects the Christian to behave differently than the non-Christian.
You can read the post here to which I am responding. This is a great blog by a close friend of mine, I just happen to disagree with him on this issue. I have included here my original comments made on his blog:
While I agree that no word is bad in and of itself, there is a lot of weight put on the words we say in the Bible. We can't say that Jesus said a certain word is bad, because Jesus was speaking a different language while he was on earth and the words would have to be translated to English. I know what you are saying here, and I do think that lots of Christians are hyper sensitive to "bad words" for no more reason than they have been told they are bad, but just like stereotypes, they exist for a reason. Paul says everything is open to us, but not all things are prudent. We can use foul language if we want to, but we need to ask ourselves if that is the way Jesus would have us represent him to the world? I think we should all ask ourselves that a lot more. (please don't run out and buy a bracelet)I wanted to dig into this a little deeper because I feel strongly that the language we use greatly affects how seriously we are taken as Christians. The main point I want to get across on this issue is that as a Christian we can not, (must not!), think only of ourselves as we live out our lives day to day. We must consider how every choice we make about how we present ourselves will affect the opinion of those around us in respect to our savior Jesus Christ. That was something Jesus was so good at while he was here. He could walk into any dive in any town and speak to the people on their level without belittling them and without participating in anything that would harm his testimony. Obviously, Jesus set the bar very high, but if we are comparing ourselves to anyone else, we are only fooling ourselves. All that to say if there were words in Jesus' day that were considered 'bad' words, I don't believe Jesus would have been using them. If he was hanging out with 'sinners' (as the religious love to call those who don't live up to their standards) I don't believe he would berate them for using those words, but I can't imagine him participating.
As for Christians, however, I believe Jesus would have some very strong words if he heard one using foul language. There are words that our culture considers to be 'bad' words, and as Christians we should want to avoid using those words so as to not offend, or cause to stumble someone who is less mature in the faith. We also don't want to give the impression that we are no different than 'those who have no hope'. Here's where the balancing act comes in. We want to be different, but we should never take pride in being different. We strive to be holy, but should never say 'I'm more holy than you'. We must be clear in our own heads that the reason we don't speak like that is because we feel there is more expected of us, not that we are too good for it. When a non-Christian is surprised at the foul language he hears from his friends mouth, there is something wrong with that picture.
It all boils down to this: We are on this earth with everyone else. Everyone has sinned and the only difference between a Christian and a non-Christian is that God has called the Christian, and the Christian has responded to that call. Both are still flawed, and both struggle with what is right every day, but God expects the Christian to behave differently than the non-Christian.
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