Steamd

Since Part 1 of this series, a lot has happened with the McCain campaign. Questions have been raised regarding McCain’s economic policy advisor, as well as bold claims from McCain regarding earmarks attached to spending bills.

As Michael Dobbs of the Washinton Post points out, McCain’s talk about earmarks is fantasy. For example:

Here’s $100 billion right here for you, George. Two years in a row, the last two years, the president of the United States has signed into law two big spending, pork barrel-laden bills with $35 billion (in earmarks). In the years before that, $65 billion. You do away with those, there’s $100 billion right before you look at any agency.

This is yet another example of what I call “band-aid” politics. McCain glazes over the problem but doesn’t directly address it. The problem is that McCain is stretching the facts beyond imagination, isn’t basing it on fact, and isn’t addressing the larger issues related to government spending. The government is hemorrhaging millions of dollars a month on Iraq and McCain seems to think that we can “magically” continue to fund it by simply eliminating earmarks. Great if you know how much is truly wasted on earmarks. Even better if you can truly get rid of them. But to say that this is McCain’s plan for a continued war in Iraq is just pure fantasy.

McCain really doesn’t have much of an economic policy. He seems to emphasize the war in Iraq above anything else. And now we know why. Recently it was revealed that McCain’s campaign co-chairman, Phil Gramm, was a lobbyist for UBS. Why is this such a big deal? Because UBS is a Swiss bank that is directly involved with the current mortgage crisis that threatens to cause millions of home owners to go into foreclosure. What is troubling about this is that McCain is receiving advise on his policy regarding the mortgage crisis from someone who lobbied for the mortgage industry. Not good.

And, lastly, Jonathan Martin of Politico.com posted a Top 10 list of McCain’s “misstatements and outright deceptions”:

1. McCain doesn’t even know who is in charge in Iran.
2. Iraq/Iran, Sunni/Shia: McCain doesn’t know the difference.
3. McCain still thinks Czechoslovakia (which split into two countries in 1993) exists.
4. McCain wrongly claimed that Baghdad was mostly normal.
5. McCain called Baghdad market safe.
6. McCain can’t even remember how little he knows about the economy.
7. McCain falsely claimed he never requested pork.
8. McCain falsely claimed that tax cuts increased government revenues.
9. McCain’s claim to be untainted by special interest money is false.
10. McCain wrongly claimed he never supported amnesty.

With the exception of the one regarding Czechoslovakia, I’ve personally heard quotes from McCain that confirm each of these statements. Craziness!

Video: Multi-Touch in Windows 7

Recently, at the D6 Conference, Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer unveiled some of the new features that will be going into Windows 7. A brief demo of Windows 7 showed off some features that are obviously taken from Microsoft Surface. You remember Microsoft Surface, don’t you?

It obvious that Microsoft is clearly going after Apple. This demo is clearly Microsoft’s take on the Multi-touch interface that is evident in the iPhone. Granted, part of how this is implemented is quite new and fresh…but there’s still quite a bit that feels like a rip-off of the iPhone interface.

The problem here is that it’s unclear as to how useful a Multi-touch interface like this will be in a real-world scenario. Bells, whistles, and eye-candy are all fine and dandy…but how much of this will prove to be truly useful in allowing folks to do the things they want? If something like this can boost productivity and cut the time it takes to accomplish certain tasks then, great, Microsoft might have themselves a success. If not then it’s just another good idea that was poorly implemented, which is pretty much what I’ve come to expect from Microsoft.

When Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone, he made it clear that Multi-touch was something new and exclaimed, “And, boy, have we patented it!”. What made the first iPhone demo so successful was that Jobs demonstrated how the touch interface was actually useful. In fact, Jobs was going out of his way to dissuade others into thinking they need a stylus for a touch interface saying, “We’re going to use the best pointing device in the world — our fingers.” He demonstrated an interface that was way ahead of the curve and proved that it was functional and useful in its implementation. All you have to do is pick up an iPhone and play with it and you’ll get a clear idea at just how good Multi-touch really works.

Obviously, Microsoft can’t use the same technology in Windows 7. Multi-touch is patented by Apple and it doesn’t look like Apple is too keen to license it out. Microsoft does need to be careful though. I’m not a lawyer and I don’t know how much of their interface Apple patented…but there sure does seem to be quite a bit in the Windows 7 demo that might cause alarms to go off with Apple’s legal department.

So how good is Microsoft’s touch interface? No one really knows. All we’ve seen is a flashy demo…nothing else. One thing is clear though: Until Microsoft can demonstrate real-world improvements with their touch-screen interface, much like Surface, it is still just a bogus concept. And given the Microsoft’s history with Vista, it looks like it will be a bogus concept.

Clinton Casts Wide Net of Exaggeration, Claims to Lead in “Every Poll”

As my wife said recently, “Someone should make her swallow a big ol’ dose of shutup.”

It is pretty clear after the results of the Democratic elections in Kentucky and Oregon that Barack Obama will be the Democratic candidate. Thus, it is no longer necessary to talk about why Hillary Clinton should not be President since she’ll clearly no longer be in the race. Now it is time to focus my attention on the Republican candidate, one that is probably as prolific as Clinton when it comes to discrepancies in a campaign. This is the first of what will likely be many posts about why I think John McCain should not be President of the United States.

I recently read that McCain’s finance co-chairman, former Texas Rep. Thomas G. Loeffler, had stepped down. What concerns me about this is the fact that Loeffler runs a lobbying firm called The Loeffler Group, a firm that has lobbied for other foreign interests and foreign governments and, according to Newsweek, was paid $15 million by Saudi Arabia.

McCain recently put a policy in place that prohibits any member of his campaign staff from being a registered lobbyist or foreign agent. With this policy, others have left his campaign including advisers Doug Goodyear and Doug Davenport, both of which worked for DCI Group, a consulting firm hired to improve the image of Myanmar’s military junta. McCain also fired energy policy adviser Eric Burgeson, who represents energy companies as a lobbyist.

If this is McCain’s idea of action against lobbyists then it’s too little too late. Even McCain’s own website had this to say about lobbyists:

As John McCain has said, “Americans believe that political representation is measured on a sliding scale. The more you give the more effectively you can petition your government.” It is no coincidence that the most influential lobbyists with the greatest access in the nation’s Capitol are also the most prolific political fundraisers, and that incumbents attract money in far greater volumes than most challengers.

You know, for a guy who claims to be “Ready From Day One“, he sure as hell didn’t make sure that he wasn’t hiring ex-lobbyist from day one of his campaign.

But that wasn’t even the most scariest story of the week. The most scariest is one that my wife forwarded to me from the Huffington Post, one in which McCain gets his fact wrong about Iran:

It’s scary because here’s a guy who has been through the worst of the worst when it comes to war, is twice my age, and doesn’t know the difference between Ahmadinejad and the Ayatollah. What’s worse, he even argues about it. Even I know who the hell the Ayatollah is. I learned that when I was a kid back in 1981 when the Iran hostage crisis took place. It’s pretty clear that Ahmadinejad is not the Ayatollah. It’s insulting because, out of all people in the United States, it’s the President who needs to know this stuff the most. Pretty crazy when even a 10 year-old kid knows more than John McCain about Iran’s leaders.

More to come soon…

Pirate Bay: MPAA’s $15.4 million damage claim a fabrication

So the MPAA is claiming that Pirate Bay owes them $15.4 million in damages for copyright infringement. This prompts me to think that the MPAA is about as clueless as the RIAA. Do they seriously think that they’re loosing any major revenues from ticket sales due to movie downloads?

The problem with most movie downloads is that they are of very questionable quality. It used to be that many pirate groups could get a hold of screener DVDs but the Academy cracked down on that pretty hard and now it’s extremely difficult to get screeners of any new movies that are currently at the box office. Most movies are done as either “cams” or telesync, both of which entail capturing a movie with a video camera and are of highly questionable quality.

The MPAA has to ask itself, “Does the average movie goer care at all about watching a bootleg version of a movie?”. I’m the average movie goer and I personally would rather watch a movie in the theater rather than watching a shitty bootleg version. Those that do like to watch bootleg versions of movie represent such a low percentage of the movie going public that I just don’t see how the MPAA can make a claim of $15.4 million in damages.

So, if that’s the case, then why is the movie industry loosing money and why aren’t as many people going to the movies? There are likely a number of reasons but most of them I think boil down to supply and demand.

First, with the economy slowly going into a recession, most people simply can’t afford to go to the movies. The average cost of going to a movie is around $15 to $16 a person when you average in ticket cost, popcorn, and a drink. At that cost, many would rather spend their hard earned money on DVD’s and rentals via Netflix and the like. Although this apply only to the U.S., I would imagine that the same would apply to many other countries as well.

Second, the quality of movies coming out isn’t as good as prior years. Tons of sequels or just plain bad ideas with bad scripts and (sometimes) bad acting. Not to say there haven’t been any good films. But it’s the quotient of bad films to good films that is at the core. I used to go and see a new movie at least once a month. At the moment, I’ve only seen two films since the beginning of the year. Looking ahead, I think there’s only about two or three films in the next six months that I’ll likely see in the theater.

What can the industry do to improve this right away? Well, they can start by lowering ticket prices. Demand is low so it would work in their favor to lower ticket prices and get more people back in the theaters. Also, it would help to start looking at their business model and how it would need to change to reflect the current times. What would help it? Would releasing pay-per-views the same day as a movie release help?

And what about the quality issues? I personally would give more control back to the creators and let the producers, directors, and writers have more say-so as to the direction of a film. As it stands, so many great ideas get ruined because megalomaniac companies feel the need to screw with the success of a film. Reality check: The reason why a film like Iron Man succeeded is because control of the film was kept with the producer, director, writers, and talent of the film.

I mentioned in my last post about a message from the Australian PM. Here’s yet another piece of propaganda bullshit that arrived in my inbox:

Subject: What a Guy…….We need a guy like that!

THE AUSSIES HAVE ALWAYS STOOD BY US IN THICK AND THIN….WHEN THE GOING GETS TOUGH THEY GET GOING…WHAT A GREAT LEADER…HOPE WE FIND A GUY LIKE HIM …..

This is the kind of president we need!!!

AMERICA Needs A Leader Like This!?

Muslims who want to live under Islamic Sharia law were told on Wednesday to get out of Australia, as the government targeted radicals in a bid to head off potential terror attacks.

Separately, Howard angered some Australian Muslims on Wednesday by saying he supported spy agencies monitoring the nation’s mosques. Quote: ‘IMMIGRANTS, NOT AUSTRALIANS, MUST ADAPT. Take It Or Leave It. I am tired of this nation worrying about whether we are offending some individual or their culture. Since the terrorist attacks on Bali, we have experienced a surge in patriotism by the majority of Australians.’

‘This culture has been developed over two centuries of struggles, trials and victories by millions of men and women who have sought freedom’

‘We speak mainly ENGLISH, not Spanish, Lebanese, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, or any other language. Therefore, if you wish to become part of our society. Learn the language!’

‘Most Australians believe in God. This is not some Christian, right wing, political push, but a fact, because Christian men and women, on Christian principles, founded this nation, and this is clearly documented. It is certainly appropriate to display it on the walls of our schools. If God offends you, then I suggest you consider another part of the world as your new home, because God is part of our culture.’

‘We will accept your beliefs, and will not question why. All we ask, is that you accept ours, and live in harmony and peaceful enjoyment with us.’

‘This is OUR COUNTRY, OUR LAND, and OUR LIFESTYLE, and we will allow you every opportunity to enjoy all this. But once you are done complaining, whining, and griping about Our Flag, Our Pledge, Our Christian beliefs, or Our Way of Life, I highly encourage you take advantage of one other great Australian freedom, THE RIGHT TO LEAVE’.

‘If you aren’t happy here then LEAVE. We didn’t force you to come here. You asked to be here. So accept the country YOU accepted.’

Maybe if we circulate this amongst ourselves, American citizens will find the backbone to start speaking and voicing the same truths.

As “cool” as this may sound and though we’d all like to cheer this guy on and say “way to go”, the problem with it is this: John Howard never said any of that:

The only part that’s true is the statement that Muslims who want to live under Islamic Sharia law may not want to live in Australia. What you see in this e-mail is actualla re-working of an editorial written in the days after September 11, 2001, by Barry Loudermilk:

This is right on up there with the falsified Barack Obama quote I got recently. And all it took was a simple search on Google to find the facts.

This is just trash politics through and through. Spreading lies isn’t a good way to convince people, especially when you misquote or lie about what someone else said…it’s just stupid.

Earlier this morning, the following message lands in my inbox:

Don’t understand the big deal over deporting illegal aliens. It certainly was no problem for the past presidents HOOVER AND EISENHOWER.

Back during the Great Depression, President Herbert Hoover ordered the deportation of all illegal aliens in order to make jobs available to American citizens that desperately needed work.

And then again in 1954, President Dwight Eisenhower deported 13 million Mexican nationals! The program was called “Operation Wetback” so that American WWII and Korean veterans had a better chance at jobs. It took 2 years, but they deported them!

Now, if they could deport the illegals back then, they can sure do it today!! If you have doubts about the veracity of this information, enter Operation Wetback into your favorite search engine and confirm it for yourself.

Reminder. Don’t forget to pay your taxes, 50 million illegal aliens are depending on you!

Ok, there are some problems with this way of thinking. Re-implementing a program like “Operation Wetback” wouldn’t work today for a number of reasons. First, “Wetback” is a derogatory term and using it would cause all kinds of chaos. Not a wise choice in terms. Second, although we’d all like to simply kick them back over the border and say “Not my problem” it doesn’t solve the bigger problem. Let’s look at the second reason a bit more.

Everyone talks about how illegal aliens are hurting our economy but no one thinks about why it is that they are over here in the first place. The reason? The Mexican economy is so bad that illegal aliens from Mexico come over here to make more money. The level of poverty and corruption is pretty damn bad. I can not blame anyone who tries to make a better life for themselves and their family. Can you?

To say to these people, “Get out! You’re not welcome here!” That’s an elitist attitude. What makes you or I any better than someone simply trying to make due? That ignores the very problem that is causing immigration problems to run rampant and it’s irresponsible. Why don’t you hear about problems with illegal Canadians? Cause, unlike Mexico, Canada actually has a pretty good economy. There is no motivation for Canadians to come into the United States illegally.

Look, this country was founded and created by rejecting the Old World and creating a New World. Problem now is that we’re no longer the New World. An even newer world is being created. We’re talking about globalization here. Another problem is that more than 80 percent of our economy is domestic. We react in horror to any Americans who speak a second language - God forbid, Spanish - as if the big problem is that we have too many people speaking foreign languages. Hell, as it stands we don’t really have a whole lot of foreign travel by Americans. As such, we have a whole bunch of people who don’t realize that things have changed in the world.

U.S. businesses get it though. They’re outsourcing like crazy in an effort to remain competitive in a world economy. American universities get it too. They’re bringing in students from all parts of the world. Research is being done everywhere as well. The people who really don’t get is is the people you’ve elected in Washington, D.C. We would rather rely on intelligence reports (which God knows are 100% accurate) to tell us what we need to know rather than simply talking with the countries we know little about. That kind of foreign policy does little to promote openness in a world economy.

What we have to do is talk to the Mexican government and see what we can do to help boost their economy. If you help them make their economy more strong and give Mexicans the opportunity at obtaining good jobs then you’ll see a great reduction in illegal immigration. But what you can’t do is say “Mexico is not our problem”. Every country that borders us is our problem. The relationship we have with Canada and Mexico is extremely important. The better we’re able to help each other build our economies the stronger we’ll be in the world economy.

As far as the immigrants that are here, I don’t see how we can realistically deport all of them. What we’re doing now is not pro-active and is not a healthy attitude for America. Perhaps we can look at encouraging those who are illegal to become legal. Help them understand what it is to be an American. Encourage them to learn English. If we don’t then they’ll continue to hide in the shadows.

Best way I can think of to give you a taste of what I’m talking about is to have you watch an episode of 30 Days that deals with immigration. Morgan Spurlock created the series and many of the episodes are pretty darn interesting. The one on immigration though was a real eye opener. In it, Morgan took a guy who was a Minuteman and has him spend a month with a Los Angeles Mexican family in a one-bedroom apartment. He ends up going to Mexico to see where this family originated from. What he sees shocks him.

If you can rent it and watch it, do it. Blockbuster should have it available to rent. It’s from Season 2, episode 2 I think. It’s also coming up as a rerun on FX as well. If you have a DVR, do a search and set it to record.

This is a hot button topic that unfortunately does not have a simple solution. The problem is much bigger and much different than you think. And in order to solve this we have to get past the kind of rhetoric and B.S. that is inherent in the kind of correspondence that was in that e-mail about the Australian PM. We have to look at the facts and not pre-judge. Otherwise we run the risk of making rash decisions on the basis of a gut-reaction rather than making educated decisions based on facts.

Think about some of the best product designers out there. Think about a product that you have seen that left an impression in your mind. The best analogy I have about good product design has to do with a can opener. Sure, for most people a can opener is a can opener. There’s nothing really about a can opener that would give you an emotional response. But if a company that designs can openers was to create one that not only looks different but feels different and opens cans better than anything out there then someone using it might get an emotional response from it. They may very well think to themselves,”This is the best damn can opener I’ve every used! I don’t think I’ll ever buy another can opener from another company every again!” Not only did they design a good product that solves the customer’s problem but they also created a loyal customer who doesn’t see any other solution as being as good as theirs.

The lesson here is that getting your customers to use your product is only one part of it. The other is keeping them. And the only way you’re going to do that is to develop a good product that speaks to the customer. In essence the product must speak for itself. If you were building can openers you have to tell yourself, “We’re not in the business of making can openers…we’re in the business of opening cans”. That’s a big distinction in philosophy, don’t you think?

I find that the reason why many web developers/designers and software companies fail is that they haven’t properly defined their business model, philosophies, and processes properly. The ones that stick out for me are the ones who focus on user-centric design, implement proper IA into the process, and maintain proper communication at every level of development. Companies like Google, Apple, Dyson (great vacuums btw!), 37 Signals, and others.

In fact, my wife and I ended up having to replace our vacuum and ended up going with a Dyson. All you have to do is do the math: 5 year warranty on part and labor, no bags or filters to replace, and it never looses suction. If it lasts more than 5 years then it clearly makes up for the extra cost compared to other vacuums. You could go through two vacuums in the same amount of time one Dyson would last you. But it’s not in the cost that makes it better…it’s how good the damn thing is. The minute you use one you’re hooked. I mean, this thing sucks…literally! Best damn vacuum I’ve every used, hands down. That’s building loyalty for ya!

Go rent and watch this DVD:

Iraq For Sale: The War Profiteers

The amount of corruption and profiteering from the likes of Blackwater, Halliburton/KBR, CACI, and Titan is staggering! And the creators of this film are not lying about it either. Plenty of evidence and facts to backup their claims.

After watching the film, I feel that our occupation in Iraq has less to do with fighting terrorism and more to do with oil and government contracts. Do the math. The more troops we have in Iraq the more money these companies will make. The so-called “surge” in Iraq is nothing more than a “surge” in profits. For the past five years we let the Bush administration and our government line the pockets of corporate executives by privatizing so much of our military operations. All the while we were told that we were fighting a “noble cause” and that if we didn’t then the “terrorists would win”.

Some of these companies received these contracts without any opposition, any bidding, with no competition, and continues to be granted these contracts with little or no oversight. It should come as no surprise that Halliburton, the very company that Vice President Cheney was CEO of, got the majority of these contracts. As a member of the military serving in Iraq you can’t shit, shower, or shave without some form of intervention from Halliburton. What’s worse is that nothing has been done in Congress; no amendments or bills have been passed to ensure that these companies have proper oversight.

The United States government is being charged outrageous amounts of money with millions of dollars in overspending. This is your tax dollars at work, folks. If this doesn’t piss you off then I don’t know what to tell you.

I’m outraged beyond belief. I figured there was some corruption for sure…but this? Hell no! What they are doing is so un-patriotic, un-American, and un-Christian. It’s an absolute outrage! And we’re to believe that we’re actually fighting terrorism? The hell we are! It’s a lie, plain and simple. These people are profiting off of terrorism and the deaths of others. And it’s wrong…so damn wrong. So wrong that its about as bad as terrorism itself.

This needs to change. We need to stop the war profiteering. And you can change it by voting for someone who won’t put up with it any longer. McCain sure as hell won’t do it. I have serious doubts that Clinton will do anything constructive after her recent comments about Iran. So that only leaves one candidate left.

Guess who.

UPDATE: You can watch the entire film online at Freedocumentaries.org.