• Recount

    I just finished watching the HBO movie of the same name, and it was like picking open a scab and cleaning it with a little drain opener. They saved the most painful part for the end: Ron Klain approaches Jim Baker and asks him, “Do you thing the best man won?” What was Baker going to say, no? So Ron Klain says, “I hope you’re right.”

    Oh man did that hurt. It was enough to ruin my whole weekend. I was immediately reminded of something I told one of my coworkers, not long after the Supreme Court decision in Bush v Gore. Like a lot of liberals, we were particularly depressed after the Gore speech. (Where was THAT guy during the campaign?) Anyway, at some point I remember saying something to the effect of: “hey, it probably won’t make that much difference anyway.”

    Can I hide behind an “ignorance of youth” defense if I was only 29 at the time? Yeah, I didn’t think so. It may be one of the dumbest things I’ve ever said; and trust me, that’s really saying something.

  • For your information

    This is as good a reason I can think of to encourage our kids to do something other than just watching TV all the time (while not forbidding it), help them become educated media consumers, and foster open, healthy, mutually respectful relationships (with them). Mind you, I don’t mean to preach – I’m far from perfect myself.

    The author will be appearing here (follow link) this Wednesday to discuss the impact the media has on our daughters. Even if you don’t have a daughter, it may still be worth a look.

    Alternet:

    Sometimes people dismiss the media as being unimportant or trivial or just entertainment with no impact whatsoever. For people that study the media, it’s clear that it’s not just background noise, that we live in a media-saturated environment, that media shape our understanding of the world. So I don’t think that we should just dismiss it. I think that we ought to take media seriously.

  • Another Rays victim

    Crawford-Aki.jpg

    It’s a good thing I’m not superstitious, otherwise I could never write this post. The Rays… yes, I’m talking about the baseball team, not the UV index… are one quarter of the way through a remarkable turnaround. They’re one game short of thirty wins, and we’re nowhere near August. They drew more than 30k people to the Trop last night, and neither the Yankees nor the Red Sox were in town. Their young starting pitching has continued to grow, and the bullpen looks like it’s staffed by ACTUAL major league players. And best of all, it looks like the defensive infield has remembered to bring their gloves to every game.

    So who could possibly have a problem with all of this, besides the rest of the AL East?

    Dunkin’ Donuts.

    That’s right, the northeastern icon of fried dough is struggling through this winning streak. In ten years, the only promotion safer than the ones tied to wins were tied to attendance, and Double-D is giving away free donuts every day the Rays win.

    Well fellow Floridians, the Rays won last night, so go out there and get yourself a creme-filled.