Category: Politics

  • Talking past each other, again

    Geesh…it’s been a long time since I’ve written for my personal blog. The muse left me…for a bunch of reasons. But, she may be back as I felt a strong urge to write about a controversy that matters to…just about nobody. I am a huge fan of hyper-local blogging. It’s everything local newspapers can’t be:…

  • Health care: yes, it’ll cost me more…and, yes, I’m glad we (finally) did it

    Well, the political battle of the (still young) century is over. And, despite the ugly fear mongering of the Republicans — and the very sad racial and homophobic epithets tossed at members of Congress this weekend during the final debate by “Tea Party” activists — the country has shown some political spine and done the…

  • Bank of America marketing: how to lose customers on a grand scale

    Well, growing a business ethically continues to defy Bank of America. First, it duped shareholders by concealing girnormous losses at Merrill-Lynch last year — then it agreed to paying ML’s brokers astronomical bonuses, all apparently in exchange for an extra $50B in TARP funding. Next, it pissed off a Federal judge who wouldn’t let BofA…

  • Dear Michael Steele and the Republican Party: Please leave me alone

    Dear Chairman Steele, Last November, I made a $25 contribution to your party’s candidate. I also made a $25 contribution to the Obama campaign. Then, I wasn’t sure who would have been the better president. Now, after months and months of non-stop invective from you and your party against President Obama, I am sure I…

  • Choose one: New FTC blog post guidelines a) protect you b) kill free speech

    Well, this is one of those times when the government acts and you get to chose your reaction. On the one hand, the emergence of the ‘net as the definitive source of reviews for everything from software to celery has become a bonanza for the shills of the world who review products for filthy lucre…

  • Are you feeling like you’ve been screwed, but can’t quite figure out how?

    Maybe it’s your health care insurer manipulating your out-of-network health care claim reimbursements to increase their profits. Remember last fall when you signed up for the significantly more expensive plan that lets you choose a doctor out-of-network? You thought you were being smart. Instead, it turns out you’re being screwed. Your extra premiums are finding…

  • A whale of a demagogue

    I was channel surfing recently (no mean feat on a Verizon FIOS system), and paused briefly on Animal Planet’s Whale Wars. I was instantly riveted…but not because of what the show is ostensibly about. Briefly, it’s a cinema verité recounting of the struggle between environmental radicals and the Japanese whaling fleet in the Southern Ocean. The…

  • Politics is to beer as poverty is to Wi-Fi

    I’ve been way too busy to blog. But today, while my kid was drilling analogies in preparation for the SSAT, the blog muse struck. It’s Sunday, and I’ve just reviewed my retirement account statements from September 30. That was bad enough. But with the miracle of Quicken, I was able to see specifically the carnage…

  • Verizon FiOS: Tribbles Make for Troublesome TV

    Remember the Star Trek episode entitled “The Trouble with Tribbles“? Remember how the furry creatures ingratiate themselves with the crew, then multiply so rapidly they nearly overtake the ship? FiOS TV is like a tribble. With apologies to Dr. McCoy, FiOS TV is born pregnant with problems. I spent most of 2006 and part of…

  • reCAPTCHA isn’t Boston-ese for being repeatedly tagged for speeding on the Pike

    Try as I might, I just khant imitate a Boston accent

  • ‘Cause Google’s the taxman

    Mid-April! So metaphor rich: the Boston Marathon…tax season in the US…EMI and Apple Corps have settled their disputes. What’s a blogger to do with all this? Easy: cram it all into a rant about Google. You will advertise your product or service on Google. You will allow your competitors to bid against you for the…

  • An Alito for the Wall Street Journal

    I am seriously bent out of shape by an editorial entitled “Franchise Freedom” that I read in the January 2, 2007 edition of the Wall Street Journal. I can’t link to the editorial here, because even the Journal’s red-meat-Republican opinions are locked behind a subscription site. (How very web-centric…how very authentic it makes me think…