Lots on my mind this week
The Minnesota Vikings, The senate election, healthcare, Lost's last season, and American Idol
Welcome to another week in Bogworld. What a strange little week it was. The late great Senator Kennedy vacant seat will be filled by a Republican and Air America Radio filed for bankruptcy. Two big hits to progressive thinking everywhere.
What two big lessons can be learned from these two losses?
1) Progressives don’t listen to the radio.
2) A bad candidate is a bad candidate no matter what side they are on.
Lets begin with Air America. I really love Air America because it did fill a role countering the massive amount of bullsh!t inflicted on the nation by Rightwing AM talk radio. It did that really well. It made the conservative blow hards actually have to try to account for what they were saying. It led to other fact checking organizations. Perhaps more importantly it taught progressives that they needed to fight fire with the truth. It led to other progressive thinkers getting audiences on television and large progressive movements on the internet. New media, which is much more powerful than the antiquated AM radio waves now carries the progressive football to a new younger voter who is just finding its voice.
So I am going to miss Air America Radio if it does go under. But what it created by example is much more powerful than the right-wingers seem to be able to understand.
Yes, a Republican beat a Democrat in the Democratic strong hold of Massachusetts. Is it a big win for the Republicans? Sure. Is it as earth-shattering and game changing at Rush Limbaugh and FOX News would want you to believe?
No.
If you look at the up coming election poll standings, the Republicans stand to lose a LOT more seats than Democrats in the mid terms. The Democrats still have a strong majority in Congress. The so-called super majority is only needed to override a filibuster. Votes to pass legislation only take a simple majority of 51.
Lets be honest, the Democrats put up a bad candidate and they did not put forth an effort to really campaign hard enough to win the seat. They were banking on the Kennedy family’s strong Democratic rule even though they were not putting forth a Kennedy to run. It was a dumb mistake.
If you listen to Limbaugh and FOX, they will go on and on about how this was a clear signal to all of America that American’s are rejecting healthcare reform and the entire Obama agenda.
Hogwash.
Massachusetts has some of the most progressive health care in the entire country. In effect, Massachusetts has precisely the kind of program the reform bill wants to bring to the rest of the nation and their boy who just won that election voted for it on the state level multiple times to get that level of care for the people of Massachusetts.
Massachusetts is one of the smallest states in the nation. To say that their small fraction of voters somehow reflects all voters everywhere in the country is a pretty big stretch. The vote was not about the President and his agenda. It was about filling an empty senate seat. Unfortunately the Democrats put forth a lackluster candidate who took a vacation in the middle of her one month campaign and somehow managed to alienate most of Boston’s sports fans by saying off the cuff remarks about Boston sports figures and Fenway Park. I agree that in the great grand scheme of things, not voting for a candidate because they don’t follow sports in silly but its the kind of thing that matter to a lot of people who want to feel connected and represented by someone like themselves.
The Republicans won because they put forth a better campaigner and perhaps a better candidate. Like it or not, thats how elections should work out. The best person running should get the job regardless of their political backing. And thats all that happened in Massachusetts.
American Idol
Ok, this is my guilty pleasure. I love watching the first rounds of Idol just to see all the truly delusional people who come to the mass auditions. This year there has been a new twist. The talent-less folks are getting kind of violent when they are confronted with the Simon Cowell brand of tough truth.
There is an odd thing about the human ear. We’ve all experienced it the first time we heard our own voice played back to us through some sort of recording. Our own voice sounds very different to us inside our own heads then it does outside of our skull to the rest of the world. I know I think I have a odd nasally sort of voice to myself but I cannot tell you how many compliments I get of my voice when I do radio interviews or talk on the telephone. I think its hilarious. But I guess the reverse could be happening for some of these misguided Idol contestants. Maybe inside their noggin their voice sounds like a choir of angels, but to the rest of us it sounds like hell shrieks.
You would think sometime before getting all the way to the auditions someone somewhere would have said, “Whoa! Listen to your voice on a recording before you go on national television!”
But nope. Every year they keep coming. A delusional chorus queuing up to be verbally abused by Simon.
The weird thing is how unusually aggressive these people are this season. It seems that every city that have been to so far has needed someone to be escorted out of the building by security officers. I mean I get that what we hear and what others hear are two different things, but would I defend that with fists and insults? I dont think so.
Lost
I’ve given up on this series. I know its going to get a lot of hype in the coming weeks because this is their last season but I am not going to watch.
Why?
Because Lost lost me. Somewhere in season four it became so weird and convaluted that it was impossible to follow without a GPS and a flashlight.
Usually I like shows that challenge viewers to stick with it. The problem with Lost is that it rarely rewarded its viewers with some bit of hope that things would someday start to make sense. And when some of the folks actually succeeded in getting off the island and the very next episode they did a time jump forward where key members were trying to urge others to go back. Well thats it. Thats where Lost lost me. It did not work for Gilligan’s Island and it doesn’t work in Lost. You cannot have the castaways get away and then somehow force them to go back. Thats when I decided this show was never going to pay off for me.
Here’s the deal I’ve made with myself...
At the end of this final season if all my friends who have stuck with the show tell me the finale manages somehow to wrap up all the crazy loose ends and plot twists, I’ll give it another shot. But until then I will wait patiently watching other shows that don’t give me headaches.
Shows like Community, Modern Family, Cougar Town and 30 Rock keep me plenty entertained.
The Bogworld Census
Since there is a national census going on, I thought it would be a good time to find out who all my Bogworld readers are these days. I can do the technical thing and look at graphs and stats provided by my web site host server, but where’s the fun in that? I want the chance to hear from you all with a simple email. Drop me a line. Say hello. Tell me about yourself. Just curious who is behind all the statistics I see coming to the site.
The Viking Ship Sails Once Again Towards Valhalla...and not the Super Bowl.
I can tell you there is no joy in snowville, mighty Brett has struck out. I don’t blame Favre. I don’t blame the team much either. They played a helluva game. If you go by the stats instead of the score board, the Vikings soundly out played the Saints. But alas, they do not give trophies for statistics.
Sure there were some questionable calls by the refs and more than a few badly timed turn overs. But in my opinion, the blame lies... as it almost always does for the Vikings throughout their disappointing history... with mediocre coaching. Brad Childress has done it time and time again. When there is a game to be won, he goes into conservative mode. And you do not win the big football games playing conservatively (and dont get me started how playing conservative can ruin a whole country... Another time...).
Brett Favre and the Vikings play their best when they are rolling out, short passing, and switching to the run when you think they’re surely going to pass, then vice versa right when you think you have them figured out. Childress resorts to a very predicable safe game when things get tight.
Look at his play calling last night. Favre got the team to within field goal range by playing aggressively. When they got down into range Childress changed the tone to a series of safe plays that broke the team’s flow and led to penalties and losses of yards pushing them back outside of the comfortable kicking range of our field kicker. Thus forcing Favre into a predictable pass play that was read, and poorly executed and led to an interception.
With just seconds left in regulation time the Vikings were well within field goal range and a nearly guaranteed trip to the Superbowl. They were coached out of it.
What two big lessons can be learned from these two losses?
1) Progressives don’t listen to the radio.
2) A bad candidate is a bad candidate no matter what side they are on.
Lets begin with Air America. I really love Air America because it did fill a role countering the massive amount of bullsh!t inflicted on the nation by Rightwing AM talk radio. It did that really well. It made the conservative blow hards actually have to try to account for what they were saying. It led to other fact checking organizations. Perhaps more importantly it taught progressives that they needed to fight fire with the truth. It led to other progressive thinkers getting audiences on television and large progressive movements on the internet. New media, which is much more powerful than the antiquated AM radio waves now carries the progressive football to a new younger voter who is just finding its voice.
So I am going to miss Air America Radio if it does go under. But what it created by example is much more powerful than the right-wingers seem to be able to understand.
Yes, a Republican beat a Democrat in the Democratic strong hold of Massachusetts. Is it a big win for the Republicans? Sure. Is it as earth-shattering and game changing at Rush Limbaugh and FOX News would want you to believe?
No.
If you look at the up coming election poll standings, the Republicans stand to lose a LOT more seats than Democrats in the mid terms. The Democrats still have a strong majority in Congress. The so-called super majority is only needed to override a filibuster. Votes to pass legislation only take a simple majority of 51.
Lets be honest, the Democrats put up a bad candidate and they did not put forth an effort to really campaign hard enough to win the seat. They were banking on the Kennedy family’s strong Democratic rule even though they were not putting forth a Kennedy to run. It was a dumb mistake.
If you listen to Limbaugh and FOX, they will go on and on about how this was a clear signal to all of America that American’s are rejecting healthcare reform and the entire Obama agenda.
Hogwash.
Massachusetts has some of the most progressive health care in the entire country. In effect, Massachusetts has precisely the kind of program the reform bill wants to bring to the rest of the nation and their boy who just won that election voted for it on the state level multiple times to get that level of care for the people of Massachusetts.
Massachusetts is one of the smallest states in the nation. To say that their small fraction of voters somehow reflects all voters everywhere in the country is a pretty big stretch. The vote was not about the President and his agenda. It was about filling an empty senate seat. Unfortunately the Democrats put forth a lackluster candidate who took a vacation in the middle of her one month campaign and somehow managed to alienate most of Boston’s sports fans by saying off the cuff remarks about Boston sports figures and Fenway Park. I agree that in the great grand scheme of things, not voting for a candidate because they don’t follow sports in silly but its the kind of thing that matter to a lot of people who want to feel connected and represented by someone like themselves.
The Republicans won because they put forth a better campaigner and perhaps a better candidate. Like it or not, thats how elections should work out. The best person running should get the job regardless of their political backing. And thats all that happened in Massachusetts.
American Idol
Ok, this is my guilty pleasure. I love watching the first rounds of Idol just to see all the truly delusional people who come to the mass auditions. This year there has been a new twist. The talent-less folks are getting kind of violent when they are confronted with the Simon Cowell brand of tough truth.
There is an odd thing about the human ear. We’ve all experienced it the first time we heard our own voice played back to us through some sort of recording. Our own voice sounds very different to us inside our own heads then it does outside of our skull to the rest of the world. I know I think I have a odd nasally sort of voice to myself but I cannot tell you how many compliments I get of my voice when I do radio interviews or talk on the telephone. I think its hilarious. But I guess the reverse could be happening for some of these misguided Idol contestants. Maybe inside their noggin their voice sounds like a choir of angels, but to the rest of us it sounds like hell shrieks.
You would think sometime before getting all the way to the auditions someone somewhere would have said, “Whoa! Listen to your voice on a recording before you go on national television!”
But nope. Every year they keep coming. A delusional chorus queuing up to be verbally abused by Simon.
The weird thing is how unusually aggressive these people are this season. It seems that every city that have been to so far has needed someone to be escorted out of the building by security officers. I mean I get that what we hear and what others hear are two different things, but would I defend that with fists and insults? I dont think so.
Lost
I’ve given up on this series. I know its going to get a lot of hype in the coming weeks because this is their last season but I am not going to watch.
Why?
Because Lost lost me. Somewhere in season four it became so weird and convaluted that it was impossible to follow without a GPS and a flashlight.
Usually I like shows that challenge viewers to stick with it. The problem with Lost is that it rarely rewarded its viewers with some bit of hope that things would someday start to make sense. And when some of the folks actually succeeded in getting off the island and the very next episode they did a time jump forward where key members were trying to urge others to go back. Well thats it. Thats where Lost lost me. It did not work for Gilligan’s Island and it doesn’t work in Lost. You cannot have the castaways get away and then somehow force them to go back. Thats when I decided this show was never going to pay off for me.
Here’s the deal I’ve made with myself...
At the end of this final season if all my friends who have stuck with the show tell me the finale manages somehow to wrap up all the crazy loose ends and plot twists, I’ll give it another shot. But until then I will wait patiently watching other shows that don’t give me headaches.
Shows like Community, Modern Family, Cougar Town and 30 Rock keep me plenty entertained.
The Bogworld Census
Since there is a national census going on, I thought it would be a good time to find out who all my Bogworld readers are these days. I can do the technical thing and look at graphs and stats provided by my web site host server, but where’s the fun in that? I want the chance to hear from you all with a simple email. Drop me a line. Say hello. Tell me about yourself. Just curious who is behind all the statistics I see coming to the site.
The Viking Ship Sails Once Again Towards Valhalla...and not the Super Bowl.
I can tell you there is no joy in snowville, mighty Brett has struck out. I don’t blame Favre. I don’t blame the team much either. They played a helluva game. If you go by the stats instead of the score board, the Vikings soundly out played the Saints. But alas, they do not give trophies for statistics.
Sure there were some questionable calls by the refs and more than a few badly timed turn overs. But in my opinion, the blame lies... as it almost always does for the Vikings throughout their disappointing history... with mediocre coaching. Brad Childress has done it time and time again. When there is a game to be won, he goes into conservative mode. And you do not win the big football games playing conservatively (and dont get me started how playing conservative can ruin a whole country... Another time...).
Brett Favre and the Vikings play their best when they are rolling out, short passing, and switching to the run when you think they’re surely going to pass, then vice versa right when you think you have them figured out. Childress resorts to a very predicable safe game when things get tight.
Look at his play calling last night. Favre got the team to within field goal range by playing aggressively. When they got down into range Childress changed the tone to a series of safe plays that broke the team’s flow and led to penalties and losses of yards pushing them back outside of the comfortable kicking range of our field kicker. Thus forcing Favre into a predictable pass play that was read, and poorly executed and led to an interception.
With just seconds left in regulation time the Vikings were well within field goal range and a nearly guaranteed trip to the Superbowl. They were coached out of it.
The Minnesota Vikings, The senate election, healthcare, Lost's last season, and American Idol
Category: Bog Blog
Posted by: joe
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