Skip to main content

July 4th: Embrace your American Responsibilities

What Really HappenedAs we approach this nation's birthday, I reflect on what it means to be an American right now. We are all ruled by a government that clearly has lied to us to achieve it's own goals. It's not the first time; it won't be the last. But, as the folks at WhatReallyHappened.com point out, we are in a unique historical position: we can actually affect the outcome of the lie, while the actions that are being carried out in its name still transpire around us.

Look, we all know we were misled into Iraq. We were content to allow it to happen, because Bush did a mildly ok job after 9/11, and Colin Powell, who we REALLY trusted, said this was all fact. We were, in short, lied to. What did we expect? Politicians do this for a living; why blame them? Blame us.

I do not have any children. Nor do I have any children in Iraq. If I did, I would be protesting every day to get my child home. It's time for the lie to end. And yet, the Neocons keep talking, like last week's finding the mustard gas from the 1980's Iran-Iraq war and calling IT the WMD's we invaded for.

Enough. We are Americans; our government is MEANT to be held to task for the actions it takes. It's not a monarchy, it's a democracy. Celebrate our independence by pushing back on the Neocon forces: stop supporting Fox, start congratulating John Murtha.

Happy Independence Day. Celebrate!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Loyalty Review: Kohl's Yes2You

 As some of you know, I've spent over 15 years in the customer loyalty space. So, when I come across a new retail loyalty program, I can't help but see the pluses and minuses. After this many years, it's kind of ingrained. Periodically, I'll share my thoughts with you. Today, it's Kohl's turn under the scope. Let's have a look, shall we? I've divided the review up into three sections: what's good about the program, what's bad about the program, and what I'd change about it. That last one has some actual value: I charged hundreds of dollars per hour for loyalty program consulting, and had over a dozen clients, before I moved to JustAnswer FT. But, being a pandemic and all, I'm giving it away for free here. Kohl's, you're welcome. Here we go! The Good Sign up is opt in Seems odd to praise Kohl's for this, but in department store loyalty, this is a rarity, and a smart one. It means the customers who are opted in are already prime...

Revisiting Star Trek: The Next Generation: Season 1

I recently started rewatching Star Trek: The Next Generation from the beginning. I have nothing but fond memories of the original run in the 1980s, given how excited I was for a new Trek series in my lifetime (I had only reruns and the movies to stoke my Trek interest), and it recently occurred to me that, while I diligently consumed every TNG episode, I had not experienced the series since it's original run.  Why did I do this? Well, a few reasons: With the triumphant return of Sir Patrick Stewart to the smaller screen as the venerable Jean Luc Picard , I thought it would be interesting to contrast this version with the previous, and see how far he has come. It would add color to the character, as well as Sir Patrick. Frankly, with the COVID19 lockdown, the series I have binged upon have been intense, dark, and disturbing. Combined with the activity of the world, including insane politics, homicidal police who seem to view people of color as "prey," rather than their ch...

The Icarus Effect

This morning's news started with the latest grim proof of overdevelopment in a tough sector: SkyBus Airlines shut down , less than year from when it started. Never heard of Skybus? Not surprising; they chose to focus on trips from Ohio to the West Coast for ridiculously low fares. Yes, you read that right: the airlines' unique niche was that they focused on trips from Ohio . Was air travel such an amazingly profitable business that we needed that much segmentation and focus? Of course not. A year ago, when Skybus was just getting off the ground (har har), fuel costs were at an all time high. United was still in bankruptcy; Delta, a fellow airline with a major hub in Ohio, was just exiting Chapter 11. And yet, "irrational exuberance" led investors like Nationwide Mutual Capital, Huntington Capital Investment Co., and Battelle Services Co. to ignore the obvious signs of risk, and dive into what was a dubious investment. Today, they, and the passengers who were lured by ...