Biden Here to Stay

He ain't going anywhere but maybe the White House - Picture courtesy of Wikipedia
by blogSpotter

“If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it”. That piece of Texas wisdom is handily ignored by so many people... I’ve recently seen a handful of articles where people hope or speculate that Obama will replace Joe Biden as his 2012 vice presidential candidate. A couple of them have been diehard Hillary fans (“pumas”) and one of them is ultraconservative columnist Mark Davis. In each case it seems, they want to replace Biden with Hillary Clinton.

Where to begin on this? Let’s start by pointing out that Joe Biden has done nothing wrong. If he is guilty of anything, it’s too much exuberance and a smile that shines at too many kilowatts. He hasn’t stepped in the cow patties that Dan Quayle did in the early 90’s – he hasn’t even molested the English language or foreign policy the same way George W. Bush (the actual President BTW) did in his two terms. Biden has certainly made some minor gaffes… he fittingly described Obamacare as a “big effing deal” when the legislation was signed. He didn’t know the microphone was so sensitive. Some people think that Biden’s support of gay marriage somehow forced Obama’s hand on the same issue. I doubt that’s the case; also if Obama dumped Biden now, it would look altogether punitive and cancel out his progressive stand on marriage equality.

To Hillary Pumas everywhere – get over it. Obama won, and that was four years ago. Do some yoga, EST or whatever zen meditations it takes for you to get over this loss. It’s a near certainty that a woman will be POTUS or VEEP at some point – that point is just not now. Please keep your response to one which is simple and measured, not a reflex that puts feminism ahead of all else. Obama being the first black POTUS probably trumps having a first female. Europeans have blazed all around that territory with Margaret Thatcher, Angela Merkel and others. Our arrival there will be less remarkable from here forward anyway.

Mark Davis, I don’t know what to say. He is a sworn enemy to Obama and any suggestion he makes to or about Obama’s campaign is suspect. Is he purposely making a stupid suggestion and hoping that Obama’s team will bite? There’s really no telling on that one. Biden has done nothing worse than silly gaffes that any of us might do if we’re constantly being followed, quoted and cornered into interviews. Even an on-his-toes extrovert will occasionally misspeak. Obama has sometimes misspoken (though never seriously).

Mark Davis did point up something in his “Ditch Biden” article…Davis admitted it would show a huge lapse of loyalty, cause a circling of wagons and create gross nastiness where none is called for. Obama shouldn’t change horses in midstream – it wouldn’t be prudent. O’man’s shakiest relationship is with the White Male constituency, gosh that includes Mark Davis. By ditching Biden and taking on Hillary, he’d be eschewing a needed wing man for someone who already represents a solid Obama fan club (liberal white females). Biden is white-male enough to be the perfect balance for Obama's ticket. Biden has been a great Vice President and should continue to do so in the 2nd Obama term (should Obama get his 2nd term).

To you pumas out there – take a couple of chill pills. Your day will come, be patient at least for now. For ingenuous, conservative commentators out there (listening Mark?) – keep your malarkey to yourself or share it on the FOX network where nobody progressive is watching anyway.
© 2012 blogSpotter

The Digital Piggy Goes to Market

This little piggy had roast beef, this little piggy had none - Picture courtesy of Wikipedia

by blogSpotter

PROLOGUE

 It’s a cloudy, cool Saturday night in mid-May.  I got up from a nap 30 minutes ago, and I truly hope that this large coffee at Starbucks will wake me up completely.  Today’s blog entry is along the less controversial lines of shopping habits and preferences.  My nap-addled brain can do no better. I had an idea about Star Wars prequels but that will probably need to wait.  

 A-SHOPPING WE WILL GO …

 I went to Central Market today – the HEB-owned enterprise at Greenville and Lovers Lane.  I hadn’t been in about 12 years, since it opened.   At the time @ year 2000, I thought it was a confusing, claustrophobic maze that forced you through a winding itinerary of snobby wine samples and bread boutiques.   Passing by today, I noticed the parking lot was jammed as always.  Maybe I misjudged … in a dozen years it could’ve changed its layout.  

 I parked ¼ mile from the door and ventured in.   Much to my surprise it was still a confusing maze, with people lining up 5 carts deep to order brisket or gourmet cheese.  I can’t even imagine someone having that much time – it would surely take 3 hours to complete your shopping list. Even if you have epicurean tastes, Whole Foods and Tom Thumb can surely get you to gastronomical bliss a lot sooner.  The Central Market layout reminded me of IKEA with arrows pointing “the way” and shortcuts offered to the impatient such as me.

 Any readers out there who love this store – tell me why.  Convince me of what I’m missing … keep in mind that I’m even a shopaholic foodie who likes free samples.

 THE ITUNES STORE

 Moving along, lets look at another form of retail – the iTunes Store.  The digital media giant opened its doors in 2003, and eventually became the biggest music retailer in the nation.  Along the way, it added movies, TV shows, audio books, podcasts, and lecture series as well cross-platform support for media-starved Windows users.  (Linux and Android users must as always “suck it” – no easy shopping portal for you).

 The iTunes Store is a wonderful idea and I for one have hardly purchased a movie, book or album anywhere else in 5 years.  I have to say though, that this shopper’s paradise has become so huge and unwieldy it couldn’t help but have some trouble.  Jason Snell, editor of Macworld, pointed out that in his house iTunes routinely gets confused by iCloud versus local synchronization.  It also gets confused by his iPad versus his kid’s iPod.   iTunes has tried to be too many things to too many people, juggling too many balls in the air.   I won’t pilfer from Snell, I’ll share my own iTunes woes …

•  My Music collection has mostly wrong artwork.  My iPod songs show art from albums I never owned.
• I purchased “Best of Ottmar Liebert” – 15 greatest hits.   iCloud has given me 22 songs from two other albums, including many of those hits.   But that’s not what I bought.
• Just loading iTunes on a (relatively new, powerful) Windows PC, causes my machine to go into a 5-minute lockup.  What the h*** is it loading – maybe it could wait until I make a demanding request.

 Snell thinks they should break it apart into separate apps like iSynch for synching only or iPlayer for playback only.  I have to agree in general even  if I’m not totally sold on specifics.  The iTunes Store needs a massive iTune-up.   Like a Wall Street brokerage, this behemoth is “too big to fail” and yet it’s faltering an awful lot.   Apple – fix your cash cow before it develops any further mad cow derangement.   I love it too much to leave it, but Google isn’t sitting idly by…. Other people less devoted to Apple may be drawn to the charms of a simpler interface.    

        

© 2012 blogSpotter