Obamanomics

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=26935

"...during just three years in the U.S. Senate, Barack Obama has already voted 94 times for higher taxes. Barack Obama doesn’t understand the American economy and that’s change we just can’t afford."

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I'm not telling you who I'm voting for.

And I'm not simply bashing Obama.

I'm just putting this up, in hopes that it might make at least one 18 - 24 year old Obama supporter find out what they really like about the candidate.

Because, truth be told, I'm tired of hearing catchy slogans, empty promises, and eloquent well-written speeches from politicians who have no idea what the fuck they're doing.

So if you're going to say you support a certain candidate, support yourself and figure out what exactly it is that you're supporting.

xO

Ramblings Without a Cause

Perspective:

I've never pretended to know everything.

But I never realized how little I really did know.

Recently I've found myself wishing things were the way they were.

But at the same time, completely different.

I miss the way I used to feel.

It was cold, but it was home - what I was used to.

But I can't go back to the cold, because once you've felt the warmth, it's just impossible.

I can't be the way I was, but am I scared of what I might become?

I need a new perspective, and I'm not sure what exactly I need to do to get that perspective, but I need it.

I need something internal to turn positive.

Is there a way I can take both the blue and the red pill?

Today turned out to be... Inspiring, surprisingly.

Crazy what you can learn from people you previously though you had heard say everything when you really listen.

xO

Who Are The Candidates Again?

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/04/29/obama.wright/?iref=mpstoryview

(CNN) -- Sen. Barack Obama said he is "outraged" by comments his former minister, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, made Monday at the National Press Club and is "saddened by the spectacle."

Obama feels that Wright is trying to steal the spotlight.

Guess what, Barack.

It's working.

For the past two weeks, Wright has been on magazine covers, the center story for news stations, while Obama, Clinton, and (especially) McCain have taken a back seat.

Wright claims that the media's bad press is not simply an attack on him, but an attack on the black church.

It bothers me when a person defends himself by hiding behind a group. Wright was being called out for specific comments he said, and if he can only defend them by grouping himself, he's a coward and doesn't really know how else to back up his opinions.

To defend himself against accusations of anti-American hate speech, at an NAACP fund-rasing dinner, he pointed out that he served six years in the military.

"Does that make me patriotic? How many years did Cheney serve?"

It would seem that Obama and Wright are distancing themselves from each other as much as possible. In a recent interview, Wright told an interviewer that he would not hesitate to go after Obama even if he were to win the Presidency. And Obama claims that, having known Wright for twenty years, the man he has seen speak over the past few weeks is not the man he met twenty years ago.

I disagree with much of what Wright says, but I don't have a problem with him saying it. I believe he should be able to say whatever he wants... But I have just as much of a right not to listen.

A mentor of mine told me this analogy:

His family loves fruit cake; he does not.

Every year, when he gets together with his family, they make fruit cake; he does not eat any.

He has no problem with them making fruit cake, but they seem to have a problem with him not liking it. They constantly bother him to "just try it. You'll like it!"

Wright can make all the fruit cake he wants to.

But no matter how much he tries to make me like it...

I'm not eating any.

And just for humor's sake, here's a video you should all enjoy:

http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=167429&title=festival-of-wrights

xO

Starchange

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_16/b4080000943927.htm

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I know through personal experience with local Starbucks around the greater Houston area, as well as employment at a local location and in Galveston, plus trips to others around the nation that the quality of the company's coffee has been on a downfall for a while now. Other coffee shops around the city (and nation, I presume) are beginning to compete with Starbucks. Although this is hardly a novel idea, this is the first time the other companies are seeing real success in taking the big boy's customers. To make up for their shortcomings, Starbucks has begun to offer a $1 cup of coffee with free refills.

Starbucks is still trying to grow, as impossible as that may seem, and the company cannot be blamed for trying to do all it can to maximize its profits. But what happened to the charitable, customer-friendly, partner loving organization I worked for? When I was an employee, the company stressed the idea of being the "third place" for customers. Home being number one, work being number two, and Starbucks being number three, where customers go to get away, hang out with friends, and all the things that people do at their regular "hangouts."

Starbucks began as a company with a big heart and a big dream, but as of late, it would seem that only the dream remains and it has been perverted into screwing over the little guy. I never would have thought Starbucks would become a Wal-Mart kind of association, but gradually it seems to be heading in that direction, intent more on a quick sale and a quick fix (cup of coffee) rather than dedicated employees, happy customers, and competent managers.

Starbucks’ stock dropped nearly 50% in 2007 and, so far in 2008, it has dropped about 15%. Howard Schultz, the founder who resigned eight years ago, has reclaimed the CEO position for the company. His thoughts on why the company has not been doing well (as well as what he plans to do about it) shed some light on how Starbucks may manage to cast off its current negative image and shine the way it used to – through exceeding customer expectations and increasing the quality of its product. The recent implementation of Pike Place Coffee, the coffee for the everyday man, is only the first of many changes soon to be put into place.

Lucky fucking Starbucks... Schultz is back to save the day.

And by day, I mean the company's future.

In a recent interview, Schultz expressed his own disappointment in the company, but insisted that extenuating circumstances were present. When asked why people were buying less four dollar lattes, he responded that “[Starbucks’] research suggests [potential customers are] not going anywhere else; they're just coming to us less frequently. So we have to do everything we can to demonstrate to our customers that Starbucks is an affordable luxury. We have to surprise and delight them. And this launch of Pike Place Roast in reinventing brewed coffee is just the beginning.”

Schultz’s positive attitude combined with his optimistic (but achievable) goals for the company’s future are exactly what Starbucks needs. Although keeping the details under wraps, the future of Starbucks should be “exciting and innovative,” like nothing we have seen since Starbucks first appeared in the industry. Starbucks’ goal, however, is clear. To quote their new cups, “…Since 1971. The best cup then. The best cup now."

We'll see about that.

xO

The Government Doesn't Care About Black People

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080411/D8VVUAHG0.html

I've got two words for Alicia Keys:

Occam's Razor.

Sure, this is a plausible idea, if... if... IF...

I wouldn't mind hearing her ideas on how exactly the government came up with the idea for 'Gangsta Rap,' but I find it interesting that she came to this conclusion after reading the autobiographies of certain Black Panthers.

Didn't the Black Panthers consider Martin Luther King's non-aggressive ideas useless?

I wouldn't put much faith in a Black Panther, but that's just me.

Green Day may have pulled off intigrating politics into their music, but I'd suggesst Ms. Keys stick with love songs.

To quote Ms. Keys:
I've been there before
But that life's a bore
So full of the superficial.

xO