Random Inspirations

Bush & Miers: Not Another Computer Entry

Posted by Chris | Filed under Politics

I am very pleased that my wife is accepting me for the pseudo-nerd that I am. The only reason I say “pseudo” is because we’re poor and I can’t afford all the gadgets that would make me a full blown nerd.

Anyway, this is going to be a political entry *gasp*

I know!

I took a road trip yesterday and stopped in a fast-food restaurant (that shall remain McNameless). There were several TVs in the joint. The one I was watching was, of course, showing sports. However, as I was walking out, another TV was showing a prominent, fair and balanced news station. On the TV was our beloved President Dubya. Granted I was just walking by, so I didn’t really hear what he was saying, but I did read the captions. And having watched the station enough, I know that the captions are usually a one-sentence summary of what the speaker has said within the last 2-20 mins (depending on the weight of the topic).

The caption read (something to the effect of): “Bush: I picked Miers partly because of her religious beliefs.” And I quickly strolled past.

Now, I’m no political expert, nor did I hear the comments that he made in context. However, I think I know enough that, even if you have chosen someone on their religious beliefs for a prominent government position, you probably shouldn’t tell the media that.
That said, I turn my attention toward another aspect of the nomination, best quote from Casey from CommentSense:

I’ve delayed commenting on President Bush’s nomination to the Supreme Court because I don’t know what to think. I am shocked at the nomination of Harriet Miers, but I am equally shocked at the media’s low key response. Very few articles have come out criticizing her personally as much as criticizing the conservatives for being critical of the nomination. VERY interesting. VERY untypical of the American-media-hate-flingers. Nominating two Supreme Court Justices to the bench, including the Chief Justice is a rare honor, and my prayer is that President Bush either made the best decision, or would be compelled to withdraw the nomination. I suppose that’s a safe position to take at this point.

Permanent Link

Another beef I have with the media, is, why do we give so much political credibility to people in Hollywood? These people are paid to entertain us, and, somehow, through the years, we’ve put them up on some sort of pedestal where they have all sorts of influence. They control what toothpaste we buy (the Olsen twins), what shampoo we us (Eva and Pantene), etc, etc.
The thing is, they only have this power because we, as a nation of iPod loving, TiVoing, streaming video watching, music downloading, and internet surfing in the bathroom people, give it to them. How do actors and actresses know so much more about politics than we do? They may have more time to look into issues, but do you really think that they take the time to? Maybe on one or two issues (read: Pam Anderson and PETA).

Okay, I’m done ranting. Any questions?

By the way, I hate to admit it, but the celebrity/political beef wasn’t an original SR idea. If I could find where I got the idea, I would link, but I forgot where I read it. And I want an iPod, have a TiVo, watch (and provide on occasion) streaming video, and download music. I just don’t have a computer in the bathroom.

Permalink | October 13th, 2005