Taking Politics Seriously

Sorry for the gap in posting; it's just been one of those weeks, and the fine folks at MegaCom Inc.^[1] have been running me ragged.

Still, it seems others are having worse days:

A man who was angered by Michelle Obama's speech at Democratic National Convention was taken into custody after a six-hour standoff with SWAT team members, Pasco County authorities said. Sheriff's office spokesman Kevin Doll said the man, whose name was not released, will undergo a psychological evaluation.

It's quite the time-saver when I don't have to write a punchline.

^[1]Not a real company name, or at least not the name of the company I work for.

New or Old Media?

As a rule I will avoid politics on this blog. Not because I don't have political thoughts (because, boy howdy, I do) but because I'm more interested in ranting about stuff that's demonstrably dumb regardless of political viewpoint. (Since it's my rule, I will violate it when I see fit, such as with the post about teachers carrying guns.)

Having said that...I signed up on Barack Obama's website a few days ago to get the text message about his pick for the VP candidate, not because I'm an Obama fanboy (or hater) but because I liked the idea of an announcement being made this way. For good or ill Obama has made a big deal out of being a new-technology candidate, and this seemed to fit.

Well, it's Saturday afternoon, and not only has the announcement been made but the pundits are already wagging about the merits of the choice.

My phone, meanwhile, is silent. Swing and a miss, President Tech!

"Common" Sense

A Texas school district is planning to let teachers bring guns to school:

The board of the small rural Harrold Independent School District
unanimously approved the plan and parents have not objected, said the district's
superintendent, David Thweatt.

School experts backed Thweatt's claim that Harrold, a system of about
110 students 150 miles northwest of Fort Worth, may be the first to let teachers
bring guns to the classroom.

Thweatt said it is a matter of safety.

"We have a lock-down situation, we have cameras, but the question we
had to answer is, 'What if somebody gets in? What are we going to do?" he said.
"It's just common sense."

Clearly this is a new and rather different definition of "common sense" of which I was previously unaware.