Curses! Foiled again! or This is why I should Blog More Often

Yesterday, I came to a realization.

The Democrats are going to lose the Whitehouse in 2008.

And here's why.

There's going to be an anti-reverse-racist backlash against Obama.

To clarify: Obama himself will be largely blameless of this but will be the unwitting victim of the company he keeps. The Mainstream Media will be so in the tank for him, and so convinced, not only of their own rectitude but the moral impoverishment of their opponents, that they will pillory every critic of Obama with what they will, deep in their hearts, KNOW is the REAL reason those on the Right will oppose him: Racism.

That's right. The Media are going to lose the election for Obama, and they are going to do it by pissing Moderates off by constantly calling ANYONE who criticizes him a racist.

So, this occured to me yesterday. And I thought about posting it, but it was running late, and I opted to wait till later to post those thoughts.

So guess what's on Instapundit today?

EFFORTS TO PREPARE THE MEDIA BATTLESPACE:

The Left is very invested in both preemptively delegitimizing criticism of Obama and framing opponents as de facto bigots.

I can think of no better reason to vote against Obama than the prospect of an administration where any criticism of the President is treated as racism.

Yeah, I think I've learned my lesson. Strike when the iron is hot, dammit!

I'm not really a technophile, but...

So I have a new toy. With my birthday coming up, and my cell phone plan eligible for an upgrade, I succumbed for the first time in my life to cell phone lust. Initially the object of my affection was this little number. I've had 3 phones, 2 Nokias and 1 Samsung. Aside from actually liking the Nokias, the Samsung positively sucked. I figured I would stick with an interface I was familiar with; and since I was eligible for an upgrade, I pondered spending a little extra money - this would be the phone that would last through a 2 year contract extension, after all - and getting something nicer. Maybe even an MP3 player.

So I had a serious case of cellphone lust for the Xpress 5300... at least until I went by a T-Mobile stand and actually picked one up. It was a slider, which had that going for it, or so I thought. The thing was, well, bulky. It wasn't stylish at all. Now I'm not the most gotta-have-a-shiny-new-toy kind of guy, but if I was actually going to lust after something, I wanted it to be lustworthy. It might have been cool to have an MP3 phone, but lustworthy it was not.

I was saved by being poor.

Long story short (and screw you for comments to the effect that I'm incapable of such) by the time I was able to afford the $50 to upgrade to the phone, it had been discontinued; and while I was initially upset by that fact, I was soon consoled by the knowledge that the next generation model would be out the very next week. I checked it out in a store the day it came out, read a couple of reviews of it online, and wouldn't you know people liked it better than the original. So I ordered it, expecting it to come in 7 business days.

It came in 3. I would have gotten it after 2 but I was at work when UPS came by. Let me just say, I LOVE this phone. It's slim, sleek, shiny, and the sound is just awesome. It's my first MP3 player, and I'm discovering how addictive it can be to listen to any of your music whenever you want.

But as impressive as my MP3 phone is, its the entire blanket of communication that most fascinates me. Today I talked to my father in Texas while at work; my mother in Puerto Rico while walking in the park - during which time, I might add, I was listening to Mussorgsky's Picture's at an Exhibition - and now I am sitting in a bookstore, typing on a blog with my laptop computer through a WiFi connection that presumably can be read by anyone in the world, while on the phone with a coworker (and listening to Smetena's "The Moldau").

I am often flummoxed and frustrated by people who insist that "things are getting worse," that the world today is not only not improving, but actually becoming less friendly, less convenient, less connected "on a human level" with "technology getting in the way." I can't possibly imagine, short of somehow bifurcating myself so I can be both in Texas and the Caribbean, carrying around a phonograph and twenty pounds of records, while somehow broadcasting my personal reflections on shortwave radio, how at any time in the past I could be as connected to the things that make us human - Family, Art, and Literary Expression - so effortlessly.

So, I really am not a technophile. But I can't help but be aware of how technology has made the world a more interesting, enjoyable, and, yes, human, place.

A quick post

I posted something on my LJ - if you don't have the URL and would like it, email me - but I just wanted to make a quick note.

I've been overdosing on music lately. I'm getting a new cellphone - one with an MP3 player, in fact - and I've been ripping a few of my cd's I don't already have ripped so I can load them on it.

I've forgotten just HOW GOOD John Williams' music for the original Star Wars trilogy was. Or why I own all the recordings.

Also. My birthday is Monday. Anyone who wants to hang out, get in touch. Am wanting much niceness of party :)