I know this is a harsh. You see those guys who walk around with a bluetooth wireless device in their ears. I'm sorry. They look stupid!
I can see wearing one in a car when they are useful has a hands-free device and you can pretend you are jet-fighter pilot. But if you are just walking around, just pull that thing out of your ear and put your cell phone in your pocket. No one's going to call you with that think stuck on your head.
And please, if you are in a public place, never, ever talk into the thing. You look like an idiot!

History

    History will not treat the past few years well. Lyndon Johnson knew that the President of the United States had very little power over the economy and admitted it. But when faced with an economic slowdown and inflation in the early 1960s, LBJ grabbed his telephone and called up leaders of business and finance to harangue them about rising prices. He called this 'jawboning.'

    The current group running the country fervently believe not only that the government shouldn't be involved in the economy, but believe it is their responsibility stand by and watch the train wreck. Look at their absence in the development of the housing credit collapse, the erosion of the dollar and the spector of speculation in the US oil market. It's turning into the Hurricane Katrina, this time only in the economy.

    What the neo-conservatives don't recognize is that most Americans want their government to do something even if its just having the President call up the head of a corrupt, massive hedge-fund and telling him to knock it off. What George Bush has failed to recognized is that he is President of the United States, not just President of the government

The Demise of Newspapers Part 1

    Deep in his book The Fifties, David Halberstam refers to mass cultural trends that journalm totally missed at the time. Along the way he admonishes his readers to look for things that seem to be moving the news and moving history that might not be superficially apparent. In this case, Halberstam is refering to the massive migration of African-Americans from the rural south to the northern cities.

    Regarding the demise of newspapers:  There are obviously quiet social trends at work concerning how people use information. Since newspapers journalists are very uncomfortable with not having an immediate answer to almost everything, everyone has their own theory, and most are probably wrong.

    More later.

Patriotism

    Somewhere a long the line Democrats conceded the concept of patriotism to the Republicans and have been paying for it dearly ever since.

    Maybe Republicans just stole to beat Democrats over the head with it or maybe most Democratic leaders are 'just too cool for the room.' It will be interesting to see if the new Democratic nominee Barack Obama can reach beyond his African-American and Volvo-driving liberal constituencies to middle-of-the road Democrats. He seems to be showing signs of taking back the flag.