Lowest Common Denominator - At Their Mercy

I'd hardly say this is a purely objective view, but it's certainly becoming a popular one (finally). In fact, Obama recently hit on it and while he was initially admonished for actually saying what he was thinking (correctly I will add), as people wake up and open their eyes, he's now actually being praised and surging polls are suggesting that he's outclassed Hilary.

Here's a portion of Obama's speech given last week:
-->
But the truth is, is that, our challenge is to get people persuaded that we can make progress when there's not evidence of that in their daily lives. You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, and like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. So it's not surprising then that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.
<--

Initially people freaked out, citing his choice of words completely incorrectly and out of context (per usual), but under further review they realized he was referring simply to people being so jaded to the usual crap that they default to, from their perspective their only clear and present choices - religion, guns and voting against the people who are smarter/different than they are and those best equipped to run the country out of spite. This has happened before, leading up to the last 8 years of abysmal leadership by baby Bush and his gang of criminally negligent and incompetent staffers. Cast aside all relevant issues and focus on.. (coin toss).. abortion, and then gay marriage. Purely inconsequential issues that somehow trumped the economy, the environment, the war and hundreds of more important issues. Next of course will be immigration, with a polarization that promises to get the gun toters out to the booths in record number.

So, this as much a hopeful note as it is a slap on the back of the head to the lowest common denominator that ushered in baby Bush and his cronies. Wake up, read, listen and vote the issues (you'll notice that's plural), and not the contrived, manufactured inconsequential bullshit. I'd even go so far as to say put your money where your mouth is.. but wait, did I forget to mention the pathfinders, trailblazers, firestarters, scout leaders, foot rubbers, democracy rapists, croneys, talentless short cutters and jackasses?

Talk about dishearterning:

-->
But the McCain campaign, which struggled over much of the past year in raising money, is now seeking to emulate the record-setting money machine that powered George W. Bush to victories in 2000 and 2004, bestowing special titles upon bundlers who exceed certain financial targets.

Instead of Pioneers and Rangers, as Bush's top fund-raisers were called, McCain is dubbing the 73 people so far who have brought in $100,000 or more Trailblazers, while the 33 who brought in $250,000 or more are being called Innovators.

Campaign finance watchdogs criticized the Pioneer and Ranger system for establishing an elite class of donors, many of whom went on to ambassadorships and other political appointments. But McCain's advisers believe the system offers the best chance to encourage as many people as possible to raise large amounts of money for the campaign.

McCain has distantly trailed both Obama and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton in fund-raising - in March he brought in $15 million, compared with Obama's $40 million and Clinton's $20 million. While McCain's Democratic counterparts, especially Obama, have enjoyed much success in harvesting small-dollar donations over the Internet, McCain has not built an effective Internet fund-raising machine, forcing him to depend on a circle of wealthy donors
<--

Ahh, GW - where haven't you gone wrong? The answer is simple: you pandered to the lowest common denominator and were dumb enough for that group to feel like you'd be a cool guy to go drink with and you wouldn't make them feel stupid (at all). The only refinement you were missing: You wouldn't have had to steal Florida if you had no teeth.

Will the ignorant LCD masses wise up this time around? Time will tell. My fingers are crossed.

Super Simple Time Filler

..an interesting concept when looking for something to intellectually process while otherwise held corporally captive. Flights, commutes, conference calls, meetings and the like all qualify as ideal times to mess around with intersections.

I propose (or maybe even hypothesize) that any two ideas/objects eventually intersect if you push them around long enough. Let's call it the inescapable voyage to the lowest common denominator which occasionally results in something useful theory. Take for example: cup holders and chewing gum , an available USB port and too much time, or even a website and a lot of poorly thought out ideas.

So. Free brain processing time plus the catalog of crap you've been exposed to that is still rattling around in your brain and the concept of merging them together in pairs, one at a time until you come up with something: funny, ridiculous, useful, wasteful, marketable or simply interesting. I find it helps to pick one interesting idea or object and bump as many other ideas or objects against it until something decent comes out.

A notepad and google (plus a random letter or combination of letters) can add a whole new element to the process. Add alcohol for worse results.

I guess it could also be called 'captive creations', or 'poor man's data mining', or even 'here's what I came up with during our last business meeting that is completely unrelated to what was discussed'.

A random personal few from my last meeting:
poker fishing - I didn't say these were good, merely random.
basic competency testing printed on dollar bills - must be answered before redemption, wrong answer = exploding bill.
*vending machine, martinis, home pregnancy kits - weekend hangout
air horn and obscenities - really, really loud obscenities


* a triple inspired by being forced to listen to a co-worker's ramblings that sent my brain off on a tear about what her social life must be like.