Let's say he picks Mitt Romney. Mitt comes with an organization. But why wait until two months before the election to get the ball rolling? McCain has squandered a lot of time. He doesn't understand the electorate if he thinks we're just looking for experience. And don't get me wrong - Obama is scary in his naivete. But that won't stop his voters from getting to the polls.
It's as though McCain thinks, like Hillary did, that he'll get elected just on his experience alone. That turned out to be rather dumb.
Every day matters. Hell, every hour matters, especially when you're behind. But I get no sense of urgency from McCain or his campaign.
4 Comments BeatCanvas.com, an Iowa Art Blog, by artist Brett Rogers, 7/2/2008 9:48:20 PM Permalink
The Difference
Ever wonder what the difference is between a dreamer and an entrepreneur?
A dreamer thinks of what it would be like. An entrepreneur thinks of how it can be done.
Follow-up question: what's the difference between failure and success for the entrepreneur?
Meredith's circuitous path to small-business success is hardly unusual. Few entrepreneurs' business ideas end up panning out exactly as planned, said Daphne Woolfolk, founder of Essati Consulting in Hyde Park. "I don't know anyone for whom success is a straight path," she said. "It's about moving through failure, not avoiding it."
Many entrepreneurs move back and forth between employment and launching their own businesses. Meredith, who has a degree in information technology from the University of Illinois at Chicago and a culinary degree from Illinois Institute for Art, worked for IBM, McDonald's, Aramark, Lotus and his mother's data-processing company before launching AlterEatGo.
The real trick to making something great often has extremely little to do with the idea, and much more to do with the execution. That's where the real innovation occurs -- in taking an idea and trying to figure out how to make it useful. It's that process that's important, much more than the original idea. As nearly anyone who has brought a product from conception to market will tell you, what eventually succeeds in the market is almost always radically different than the original "idea."
It's not where you start or where you end up - it's the process that matters. It's about the journey. Which is why it kills me to see so many people dream of owning their own business, and doing absolutely nothing about it.
Location is 90% of success. As in, put yourself where you need to be to do the thing you dream of, and it's that placement that moves you forward. Because let's face it - you would look pretty stupid standing there in the place you need to be, doing nothing at all.
0 Comments BeatCanvas.com, an Iowa Art Blog, by artist Brett Rogers, 7/2/2008 8:24:15 PM Permalink
This is an audio and visual presentation, so be ready to listen well.
Bottom line: "The problem is that the projection is based upon an assumption that has no historical basis. Using the historical rate of increase, Medicare and Medicaid alone would consume all tax collections by 2044 if the tax rate remained at the 2007 level of GDP."
Medicare and Medicaid alone... that doesn't include:
Social Security
Mandatory spending on other entitlements
Defense
Non-defense, discretionary spending
Interest payments on the debt our country owes
In 2007, Medicare and Medicaid only amounted to 20% of all government spending. So to be in line with the historical trend, in 2044, without raising taxes enormously on your kids to make up for the money needed for 80% of the budget (!!!), the government will only raise enough revenue through current tax rates to pay for Medicare and Medicaid alone.
I came away from this totally ticked at Bush and our Congress of the last eight years. It was on their watch that these problems have grown to the scale that they have.
Electing politicians that seek to increase mandatory spending will only exaccerbate the problem.
What future do you want for our kids?
1 Comment BeatCanvas.com, an Iowa Art Blog, by artist Brett Rogers, 6/29/2008 12:12:34 PM Permalink
PUMA
While I'm coding a bunch tonight, I'm browsing around during a break and I find this Nobama web site put up by some Hillary supporters. They've coined the phrase, PUMA, which stands for "Party Unity My Ass."
My gosh, if you think I'm political and a little rough with some of my views, these folks are pulling no punches.
Now evidently, there's been a problem because these folks had their blogs reported as spam to Google, and so they were shut down and unable to post. They're not spam at all, but if there were bad feelings before, it's worse now after having their freedom to publish their own opinion stripped of them. (Shame on Google for acting without validating the charges first.)
So now there is a new web site for them on Wordpress. And they're prolific! And pissed! And they believe that the media is utterly complicit in this charade of "hope and change."
1 Comment BeatCanvas.com, an Iowa Art Blog, by artist Brett Rogers, 6/29/2008 12:27:33 AM Permalink
Unreal
0 Comments BeatCanvas.com, an Iowa Art Blog, by artist Brett Rogers, 6/28/2008 11:08:36 PM Permalink
So what if a President Barack Obama were to impose 50% or 60% tax rates on these CEOs and other big earners? Mr. Gramm pounces: "When you help a company raise capital, to put its idea to work, and you create jobs, those jobs are the best housing program, education program, nutrition program, health program ever created. Look, if a man in one lifetime is responsible for creating 100 real jobs, permanent jobs, then he's done more than most do-gooders have ever achieved."
Gramm's right, and I'm glad McCain has this guy whispering in his ear on economics. Obama's approach is like killing the horse on your farm because it eats from the oats it helps you harvest.
Question: What if everyone had the personal goal of creating at least 2 permanent and productive jobs in their lifetime?
Sound tough? How about 100 jobs?
Some people have the ambition of creating jobs. How does that even make sense to penalize such people by taking over half of what they earn? No, we ought to instead penalize those people who lack the ambition to do anything productive at all. I expect that there are far more people who want to do as little as possible than there are those who have the ambition of creating 100 jobs. Which group makes more sense to penalize?
Obama has no clue about life. For all his flip-flops, I don't think he understands it well. Too busy hoping instead of doing, I guess.
ETC: Just when I'm warming up to McCain, I see this. Good lord, but common sense fights for air among those who seek the Oval Office this year.
Illegal immigration is an economic issue as well as a homeland security issue. Illegal immigrants are woven into our economic fabric. They're necessary to ratchet up the demand for the oversupply of homes right now. They work for our nation's employers. 12 million, we're told.
Amnesty didn't work before, despite the assurances for funding stronger border security. Does anyone think this Congress is more willing for stronger borders now than that in 1986?
I agree with McCain that it's an issue. But it's not the top issue, and while I would like to believe that those are just the words of another politician, ol' Mac really believes that stuff and authored the most recent legislation.
Agh... would that we had someone who could talk sense about this stuff.
1 Comment BeatCanvas.com, an Iowa Art Blog, by artist Brett Rogers, 6/28/2008 7:48:51 PM Permalink
Customized
Bought some things to make my own magnetic bumper stickers (the 12" x 4" magnets, legal-sized labels, and laminate).
I was thinking about making storyboard panels and making a 4-panel cartoon, using 4 magnets. I dunno. But this way, if I feel political one day, I can put that up and change it around, depending on my mood and thinking at the time.
0 Comments BeatCanvas.com, an Iowa Art Blog, by artist Brett Rogers, 6/28/2008 7:11:56 PM Permalink
WALL·E
Saw the movie and I have to say that the already exceptional Pixar is getting even better graphically. The first 20 minutes of the movie, if you didn't know any better, it'd be tough to know if you're watching something real or something created.
The movie opens with a Pixar short that had Austin, Jacob, and I laughing - a lot. Just great physical comedy. Tamara, who enjoys a good slapstick routine, would love this and so when Tess gets here, I'll go see it again with them.
I won't give away the plot of the movie, but I will say that the theme into which it evolves is getting a bit tiresome. Once I suspended my disbelief, I went back to enjoying the movie, which was wonderfully done. We all liked it and heartily recommend it.
While the younger boys and I were in one theater, Tamara, Tate, Aaron, and Bari were in an adjacent theater watching Wanted. Very vulgar, I hear, but fun with fabulous effects.
It's been a good movie summer thus far. Up next for me: Batman and Hellboy II. Not really interested in seeing Hancock. I normally like Will Smith, and it seems like a decent movie, but something about it has me questioning. I'll wait to hear from others. Tamara wants to see The Mummy, so I'll be watching that when it comes out.
We saw the trailer for Bolt, a Thanksgiving cartoon from Disney about a dog, and the trailer had us laughing. We'll watch that.
1 Comment BeatCanvas.com, an Iowa Art Blog, by artist Brett Rogers, 6/28/2008 7:06:02 PM Permalink
