Depression Politics

The American government is about to spend 700 billion dollars in the biggest economic bailout since the Great Depression, and all the while President Bush will still not even utter the word, "recession." What's up with that? Perhaps we have moved from recession into depression already during the time our leaders were trying to deny anything was wrong.

Gas prices so high the average person couldn't afford to fill their tanks? Groceries so high we can barely feed our families? Jobs disappearing at the fastest rate in decades? Yeah, what could possibly be wrong.

Now that they have finally woken up and smelled the decaying corpse of what was once the American economy, they've decided to do something about it. I can't help but think this is a purely political attempt by Bush and the Republicans to make him look (I'm trying not to laugh as I type this) like a hero by putting yet another bandaid on a severed artery so close to election time.

Anyone who is dumb enough to applaud this quick fix and say, "Look at what a great job the Republicans did fixing this problem," needs to remember who got us into this huge financial mess in the first place. By all means, vote Republican this election if you can afford ten bucks a gallon for gasoline, you're so rich you don't need a job and you don't care how much your maid spends on groceries for your family. If you're a real, working person, you might want to consider casting a vote for the Democratic candidate.

Whatever happened to proofreading?

Google released it's new Chrome web browser and freaked a lot of people out with the terms of service (TOS) that went along with it. Basically, the wording made it sound as if everything that was transmitted or viewed via Chrome belonged to Google, including irrevocable copyrights. From the way it was worded, it was reasonable to assume that Google would be claiming a copyright to any content the user posted to the web using Chrome.

Google has said this is absolutely not the case and that the wording in the TOS was basically copied and pasted from another Google product in error. They have said they will be correcting the language for future downloads and that the new TOS will retroactively apply to anyone who has already downloaded Chrome.

Mistakes happen, but I can't imagine that a company as large as Google didn't have a team of marketing people, then a team of lawyers, then a team of something else read over the TOS before making such a major product launch. Whatever happened to proofreading?

This points out a major problem with Internet communication. The focus these days is on immediacy, getting the information out as quickly as possible. Just because we can, however, doesn't always mean we should. Taking an extra day to have the TOS proofread would have saved Google a lot of headaches and embarrassment.

We definitely need to take a step back and embrace some of the enduring principals of print communication. In the old days, once something was put out in print, it was out there forever for all the world to scrutinize. Sure, you can easily go back and change a mistake you've made on the Internet, but odds are someone somewhere has already saved your erroneous version and about 50,000 others have probably passed it around on social networking and other sharing sites.

What some may consider outdated practices such as proofreading and following proven writing standards actually existed for a reason. The basic principals of journalism, writing and editing have fallen by the wayside in today's technologically advanced society, but they are definitely worth revisiting.

And Yet, if We Call Her a Bitch...

Further proof that the Republican Party is divisive and intolerant has come in the numerous reports that Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin said, "So Sambo beat the bitch!" in describing Barack Obama's win over Hillary Clinton to political colleagues in a restaurant. The quote was originally reported in the L.A. Progressive blog and attributed to Palin by "Lucille," an unidentified Alaska waitress.

It has become obvious Mrs. Palin is a good speaker, but to be able to alienate both African Americans and women in one short statement is a feat nothing short of amazing. Using some of the most offensive language possible, she has shown her lack of respect for two groups of people and indicated clearly that she has an incredible lack of self-restraint.

Are those characteristics we really want in a potential leader of our country? I, for one, think not. I believe there are a great many African American and female voters who will agree. John McCain has been quoted as having used the term "bitch" in reference to Hillary Clinton, showing just how much respect he has for women.

Whether or not we feel the term may be justified, it is incredibly ignorant and unprofessional for a politician to be throwing it around. It can be argued that they are people with opinions, but they are also running for very important public offices. They know that every word out of their mouths at this point is going to be scrutinized and analyzed, and yet they cannot exercise the restraint to stop saying stupid, offensive things.

If they can't even keep their mouths shut and keep from throwing out offensive racial and gender based slurs, then how can they be expected to practice diplomacy and tact in dealing with leaders of other countries? Some of those leaders of other countries happen to be black and some even happen to be women. Disrespecting our own people is bad enough, but when you have a President or a Vice President who makes disrespectful comments to or about another world leader, you have the potential of having an international crisis on your hands.

I am a big defender of freedom of speech and don't deny that Palin and McCain have the right to say whatever they want to say. However, I have the right to point out that what they're saying is making them appear ignorant and intolerant and I hope that others are picking up on that as well. Keep their comments in mind when you go to vote.