Over 48 hours...

...and still nary a word on the Kerry affair on the major networks and most news outlets. Do the democrats and the media think that by simply ignoring this that it will go away? Do they plan to ignore it all the way to November? Are they crazy enough to think that they can still keep harping on President Bush's military record? This is preposterous!

In the same article...

"...Ray Romano and 'Everybody Loves Raymond,'} creator Phil Rosenthal have recently had several brainstorming sessions with the writers to determine whether there's enough comedic conflict left to fill another season. "

Let's hope they do. That show does for "family" sitcoms what Seinfeld did for the sitcom genre, which is free it from having to be "about the children" and showcasing the main characters' flaws and idiosyncracies.

'Simpsons' to hit big screen

I echo this reporter: Woo-hoo! It took fifteen years, but better late than never.

Suckers!

Valentine's Day is a big sham! Guys, if the acts of kindness you do today were done all year long, this holiday wouldn't exist and your life would be better because SHE would be happier. Yeah yeah, I know you had to meet my guy frineds at the sports bar and watch the big game so you forgot, blah blah blah. Save it.

What is so sad about this day is that it has almost been co-opted by the radical left. I say almost because this year it fell on a Saturday - had Valentine's Day fallen on Friday, there would have been a mass law-breaking same-sex wedding at City Hall in San Francisco. After all, today is about LOVE!

BARF!

Apple faces class action suits on iPod battery

Knowing my opinions on Apple are generally positive to fervent, my opinion of trial lawyers borders can be best described with the adjectives "abhorrence" and "loathing", and that I own an original and still-working iPod, you might be surprised to know that I believe that Apple is getting what it deserves as yet another class action suit...or, more precisely, Steve Jobs is. As Alan Deutschman writes in his book, The Second Coming of Steve Jobs, the Apple CEO's attitude views complaining customers as obstacles to success:

When he (Steve Jobs) had taken over (Apple), he inherited a program called SOS Apple, which let people sign a contract for unlimited customer support over the telephone for a lifetime. It was a bad financial move for Apple. Steve said to shut it down.

What about the customers who have a contractual obligation? Jeff (Cooke) asked. ‘Just Fuck ‘Em’, Steve said.

The Federal Trade Commission sued Apple over the issue. Apple lost.

This is a continuation of past bad behavior on the part of Apple and Jobs. I don't expect him to change and I do expect the flurry of lawsuits to continue.

The Beatles Are Coming!

Leave it to a yat to write a music book so compelling. New Orleans tax attorney Bruce Spizer has penned The Beatles Are Coming!, detailing the Fab 4's conquering of America. What's amazing about the site is the "yesterday" section. It takes the premise of "what if the internet was around in 1963" and constructs a blog as written by a sixteen year old Beatle fan and documenting real events in the development of Beatlemania. An inspired idea!

Dean paid $7.2 million

...to Joe Trippi's company, that is.

"Instead of a salary, Trippi's company had been paid a commission of the campaign's television advertising buys - a percentage he and his company's partners said he never knew.

'I didn't want to know. I didn't do this for the money,' Trippi said."

While I have my doubts of how completely Trippi means that statement - he is in business after all - I will say that such an arrangement is more than fair and equitable and saves money for Dean. If Howard Dean's campaign were to place ads directly with media outlets, they would be charged the full spot rate (albeit the lowest unit rate as mandated by law). This is standard practice in the radio/TV industry, applying to every client from Lipton Tea to General Motors. By going through Trippi's company, which gets an agendcy discount - let's say 17 - from the media outlets, Dean pays the same amount and Trippi makes money from the spots (the media actually makes less. Digest that, paranoid liberals!) The only difference is that Dean has someone to handle the production of the spots and placement who is experienced in this arena (it's not for amateurs to be sure)and looking out for the campaign's interests as oppossed to an account exec from a TV and radio station who has sales quotas to meet (think of the Alec Baldwin scene in Glengarry Glen Ross.)

The truth of the istuation is that Trippi could have made even more from running Dean's campaign than he did. Usually, consultants charge a substantial retainer in addition to the money made from spots. That being said, Dean got an incredible deal paying Trippi in this manner. Had the campaign gathered steam and Trippi stayed on board, he would have made buckets more money than he already did.

There are misguided liberals out there who believe that altruism should reign in politics, but like any great American capitalist institution that is not the case. If you want the best, you should expect to pay for it. Any criticism of this arrangement is totally unfounded and proves how ignorant some people can be of how the world works, not an uncommon phenomenon among liberals.