Oct 14 2006
Politics, Rants, Society

Will Republicans lose congress? Do they deserve to?

With the November elections looming, and Republican prospects of keeping the majority looking worse than they have in long time, I find myself amazingly calm. The only explanation that I can come up with for the serenity is my indifference with the Republican Party right now. I’m not sure if I actually care if they lose. In fact, it might be good for the party.

Having been a conservative since grade school, calling out the GOP for failure isn’t something that I do easily, but something is terribly wrong. Republicans have held the White House, the Senate and the House for almost seven years. What is the result? Record levels of spending that have outdone Clinton by a long shot. We have a national debt that is out of control. We have a nearly non-existent southern border. It’s estimated that over one hundred thousand illegal immigrants per month cross our border and land in our social services system. On top of these internal failings, respect for the US around the world is at record low levels.

This may sound like a list from Democratic talking points, but I am afraid that having a Republican majority has not helped this country has much as I had hoped it would. It seems that having a blank check to do anything has caused the GOP to do nothing constructive.

What things could have been accomplished that weren’t?

1. Border Control. The vast resources that are currently being used in Iraq could have been used to seal our own borders. Imagine the manpower and resources of this war being utilized where it’s really needed. Don’t want to fight the terrorists on US soil? Seal the freakin’ border! That’s pretty elementary. I’m not sure what kind of relationship Bush has with Vicente Fox, but this President’s reaction to the border crisis is laughable. Mass illegal immigration is the clear and present danger this nation right now.

2. Real Education Reform. The US education system is still as pathetic today as it has ever been. No Child Left Behind has simply become another thing that public school teachers can rig in order to advance children who aren’t learning. You really want to improve education in the US? Pass a voucher system that encourages free market competition. It has been proven in small-scale experiments that voucher systems improve public and private schools at the same time. It is crazy that so many other countries, many of which use voucher systems, are outpacing us. Until fundamental change is made to our education system we will continue to graduate illiterate children.

3. Social Security Reform. Congressional Republicans gave up too easily on fixing the largest sucking wound to the federal budget. As it stands, Social Security will be bankrupt just about the time that I’ll be of age to collect on what I’ve been putting into the system my entire working life. Before bankruptcy hits, the Social Security system will be a major cause of an economic downturn the likes of which we haven’t seen since The Great Depression.

4. Income Tax Reform. True, the one bright point for the GOP has been the tax cuts. They have helped to curb the economic effects of 9/11 and the dot-bomb burst. However, the tax code remains dramatically flawed. To see what could be, check out www.fairtax.org.

This concludes my list of disappointments in the Republican Party lately. You’ll notice that this list consists of mainly domestic issues. If the GOP loses congress, I believe that we may see a rebirth of core values in the party. Republicans against the ropes seem to remember what’s important. Cozy and fat Republicans become a waste of time.

All this being said God save us all from what Nancy Pelosi has planned for our country. This is going to get worse before it gets better.

Oct 08 2006
Media, Religion, Society

Studio 60 and American Christians

Studio 60 on the Sunset StripI hate to admit this, because it reveals the inner couch potato in me, but I am genuinely excited about fall TV. Not sure when this embedded in my mind as a harkening of the seasonal change, but like freshly sharpened pencils and turning leaves, I now associate autumn with fresh television programming. To make it even better, I can’t recall when the crop of new shows seemed to be so promising.

On the top of my list this year is Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip on NBC. I watched the season premiere with much anticipation, and I wasn’t disappointed. It has the great writing of The West Wing (thank you Mr. Sorkin), combined with behind-the-scenes showbiz intrigue (something I’ve always been a sucker for).

All that being said, I’ve found myself in an interesting place while watching this show. Just on the edge of being offended, but not quite there. You see, I am a Christian and this program has chosen an interesting way of approaching the issue of Hollywood in relation to Christianity.

Studio 60 has been unfolding a subplot that deals with cultural pushback from Christian groups over the fictional show’s content. Subplot may be a bad description of this aspect of the program; seeing that one of the foundational ideas behind Studio 60 is that the former producer of the show was fired for melting down on live TV when the network asked him the pull a skit called Crazy Christians. Apparently, the fictional network didn’t want to incur the wrath of the Christian-Right by airing such a skit.

This theme has continued each week in some form or another, and at first blush I found myself getting defensive. The Christians portrayed in the general public are boorish, small-minded people who see humor in nothing. They are hair-pinned-back-to-the-point-of-pain; pursed-lipped caricatures that publish magazines called Rapture and employ dirty tricks to get their way in Hollywood.

I don’t personally know people like this. This is where the defensiveness was born. I have no personal knowledge of people who use their Christianity as a weapon in this way. According to Studio 60 I should. I just don’t.

My friends are more likely to read Relevant Magazine, if they read a Christian magazine at all. My friends and I enjoy going to pubs and spending long hours laughing over a few pints of beer. My friends are normal people. They aren’t glassy-eyed zealots always on the prowl for the devil in hidden places. I’m not even a West Coast Christian. I live in Tulsa, Oklahoma often referred to as the Buckle of the Bible Belt, and home of Oral Roberts University (You remember 900 foot Jesus? Ouch.).

Just when I thought that I was ready to be offended and chalk this up to another case of a Hollywood show intent on bashing believers in Christ, I had a thought. I don’t know this type of Christian personally, but I know that they exist. I’ve seen them on those hideous religious channels on TV, and I knew some folks with a bad case of religious bigotry when I was a kid attending a rural Baptist church.

However, I’ll bet that Hollywood knows these people well. They must hear from that segment of the church a lot. Hollywood has more of an opportunity to interact with this type of Christian because Hollywood is on their cultural hit list. I’m not. I have my Jesus Card. Those people aren’t interested in me, but they are interested in confronting Hollywood.

I had to remember that this program is a story told from the point of view of Hollywood. I also had to remember that most of the interaction Hollywood has with these Christians is set within the confines of this cultural combat.

This is sad to me. I wish that people didn’t always have to see the equivalent of my annoying brother-in-law when they think of believers. But this is who they see, because this annoying segment of the American Church is also the loudest, and most well funded.

When I read my Bible I see that Jesus spent most of his time talking with the underbelly of that society. Tax collectors, prostitutes and beggars were his audience a lot of the time. You can’t tell me that he didn’t have a great sense of humor to command the attention of those people. If you want a peek into this humor, just read Matthew 7:9-11 with an eye to the comedy of what he’s saying.

I am not saying that Hollywood is blameless. There’s a ton of trash that comes out of that town from merely even a quality standpoint. But I will continue watching Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. It’s a great show. Instead of being offended at the portrayal of American Christians on the show, I will lament the fact that American Christians have portrayed themselves in this way to the world.

Oct 07 2006
Rants

Don't trust Real.com. Don't buy NFL Field Pass.

Real PainI now live in Tulsa, Oklahoma, but I grew up in the DFW area in Texas. I am a Dallas Cowboys fan.

Last October (2005) I wanted to listen to a particular Cowboys game on the radio while working on a re-model to my house. Unfortunately, no Tulsa radio stations carried that broadcast, so I went online to see if I could listen on my laptop.

After a little searching, I found the NFL Field Pass from Real Networks. It would allow me to hear the game online. I didn’t want the entire season, just a couple of games, so I signed up for a month for $9.95. I figured that was a reasonable price for a month of access. Everything worked great.

Here’s the problem. They do not make it clear when you sign up that you are not signing up for a month of access, but in fact, a monthly subscription that is billed each month until you cancel that account.

A year later I found out that I have been paying $9.95 per month for a service that I wasn’t using, or even aware that I was being charged for, because no billing notification is sent out. They just quietly keep charging your card until you notice.

I called customer service to try to get a refund of the $100 charged to my account over the last year, but was told that it was against ‘company policy’ to grant such refunds.

When I asked why I was not notified about the billing each month (as every other online subscription of mine does, such as iTunes) they said that the notification is made in the form of a line item on my credit card statement.

Granted, I should be more attentive to my statement, but Real has shown that is willing to employ ‘below-the-radar’ business tactics to get a little more money. First they do not make it clear that you are signing up for a subscription, and second they do not notify you of the monthly charges. Their business model requires people to be inattentive to the credit card charges to succeed. They are a dishonest company, and I would suggest that people steer clear of them.

Their ‘Black-Hat’ tactics tells me that they will never be a major online content competitor. iTunes doesn’t charge me $1.99 without telling me via email that I’ve been charged. Everything is on the table. I trust them. I don’t trust Real Networks.

I did a search and found that others have had similar problems with them. They make it difficult to cancel the ‘Rhapsody’ music service, and keep charging people until they jump through extensive hoops to get them to stop. You can sign up online, but to cancel you must call an 800 number, wait for 20 minutes, speak with someone who barely has command of the english language (likely in India), and then argue your way out of being charged again.

Real Networks is a rip-off, and they are dishonest. Do not trust them.

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