beterwas
honestly misbehaving
July 5, 2011 at 9:19 am · Filed under Musings
Well, I took a year (or so) off from my blog site – sort of.
I got to doing a lot of writing on the Star Press’ website, and while I had intended to go back and archive much of it here, I ultimately decided against it.
But more on that later.
I also took to using Facebook as a sort of Tumblr blog. I like the link-sharing features, the people that read what I write are all already on FB, and people seem more likely to comment on a FB post than they are to head over to another website.
In the end, though, both platforms left me wanting. Read the rest of this entry »
December 29, 2009 at 9:00 pm · Filed under Aid Fellow Travelers, Confound Authority, Finish Ahead
The best ideas are always the simplest.
About a year ago, I wrote a post that used George Bailey as a metaphor for the community. I suggested that the citizens of Muncie could all pull together, make relatively small changes and investments in their community, and our city would be a better place.
Well, it turns out that I haven’t been the only one thinking along those lines. Lots of people have been working to come up with effective and sustainable ways to improve their communities, and do so with minimal impact to the already-strained finances of its members.
As it happens, though, the simpler the idea, the better it is; and a group has come up with one of the simplest of all: Move your money.
Read the rest of this entry »
December 8, 2009 at 11:20 am · Filed under Call Bullshit, Raise The Debate
The holiday season is upon us; and with it, come the reindeer games.
That’s the only way to really describe the December 7th City Council meeting, as the Mayor and City Council butted heads and locked horns over one issue after another. Council members Marshall, Barton and Murphy trotted and strutted before the audience, still smug about their recent veto override victory and ready to dish out more punishment for the Mayor. Read the rest of this entry »
October 5, 2009 at 5:53 pm · Filed under Call Bullshit, Musings
Apparently there are a group of people out there are tired of the liberals treating gospel like it’s, well, gospel.
The young white men neoconservatives at Conservapedia have determined that various translations of the Christian Bible have been progressively progressive, and have also made attempts to “dumb down” the text.
Oddly enough, at the same time, they complain that liberals are inherently “wordy,” and as such, have imbued the Bible with too many lengthy words. How they plan to address the “dumbing down” and “too many big words” issues simultaneously should prove to be a neat trick.
Read the rest of this entry »
September 16, 2009 at 5:33 pm · Filed under Confound Authority, Raise The Debate
How come I never heard of Congressman Anthony Weiner before today?
“The health insurance industry shouldn’t exist at all, because unlike a pharmaceutical company that is producing…at least they have someone doing research trying to make someone healthy. A health insurance company is just making money on the transaction, and really not contributing anything to the end product.”
So, basically the entire health insurance industry is just a big middle man. I guess I always knew that, but I never really thought about it in those terms. That being said, it makes me wonder why the right is so obsessed with preserving it.
Their big argument against bringing government into anything is that it contributes no value, increases costs and adds layers of beaurocracy. What’s the difference? Read the rest of this entry »
September 3, 2009 at 5:42 pm · Filed under Musings
Matt Taibbi does it again.
The system doesn’t work for anyone. It cheats patients and leaves them to die, denies insurance to 47 million Americans, forces hospitals to spend billions haggling over claims, and systematically bleeds and harasses doctors with the specter of catastrophic litigation. Even as a mechanism for delivering bonuses to insurance-company fat cats, it’s a miserable failure: Greedy insurance bosses who spent a generation denying preventive care to patients now see their profits sapped by millions of customers who enter the system only when they’re sick with incurably expensive illnesses.
The cost of all of this to society, in illness and death and lost productivity and a soaring federal deficit and plain old anxiety and anger, is incalculable — and that’s the good news. The bad news is our failed health care system won’t get fixed, because it exists entirely within the confines of yet another failed system: the political entity known as the United States of America.
Why doesn’t he have a Pulitzer, yet?
Read the rest of the story here.
August 12, 2009 at 10:22 pm · Filed under Finish Ahead, Raise The Debate
Years ago, in my advertising agency days, I carried around this Harry Beckwith book called Selling the Invisible. It is a great collection of anecdotes about marketing and idea pitching. One that stands out for me is a story about Jay Chiat, who crafted some of America’s most memorable advertising campaigns – American Express, Apple Computer, Nike, the Energizer Bunny and others.
Chiat said that one of the secrets to his success was this little card he carried with him, and broke out whenever he found himself at an impasse with someone. It said “Maybe he’s right.”
I’ve thought about that recently, as the debates over local politics have become increasingly heated. Property tax caps, LOIT, public safety cuts, etc. have all brought concerned citizens of our city into conflict with one another over what the status quo is, what needs to change, and how to change it. The only thing we can seem to agree on is that the conflicts and infighting have done nothing to move us forward; and now, I have come to believe that the wrangling, and the impasse that results, is actually the status quo that needs to change.
As a result, I’ve come around to Chiat’s way of thinking: Maybe the people I disagree with are right. That being said, I’m going to propose the idea that we as a community go along with the Mayor and the tax repeal advocates that support her.
Read the rest of this entry »
July 30, 2009 at 5:03 pm · Filed under Musings
This is almost not funny.
Almost.
Read the rest of this entry »
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