12/27/07

Back on November 7, 2007 I sent an email to Fox 31 News, venting my frustration with the programming for the morning news. Here is what I sent:

<snip>
I have been an avid watcher of Good Day Colorado every weekday morning for the past year or so. I have been slowly disappointed in the last few months by programming and personnel changes. First the addition of Steve Kelly, his conservative spin on the news was almost too much for a Monday morning. Thank God for Shaul Turner. Then she disappears from morning routine. I hear more of her on KBPI than I do on Fox. We love her and are sorry we can't see more of her. I continue watching Good Day despite my disdain for Steve, and Shaul's absence. Then you have Joanna Canales wasting my precious morning time, telling me what exercises I can do, and eating pumpkins is good. Now knowing that I can make pumpkin bread and pumpkin pancakes, I hop on 225 and am in stop and go traffic all the way to work. Would have been nice to know traffic was so horrible, but at least I know all about pumpkins. Honestly Joanna has never told me anything that I didn't already know. I am not a fitness person, but she really doesn't have anything useful to say. I only have a good 15 to 20 minutes to listen to the news in the morning and I really don't want to hear about what exercise can strengthen my triceps, I already know. I will continue to watch, since it really is the best morning news around, I thank you for listening to my concerns.
</snip>

I also should have mentioned Dan Daru. He is a "Feature Reporter" for the morning news. He is very similar to Joanna Canales, where he talks about stuff no one cares about. His attempts at humor are seriously lacking, and only serve to confuse the interviewee. Apparently there is not enough news going on, so we have to have a feature report on the ski train, or some stupid High School. Hey maybe they could have more traffic updates or weather??

Maybe it was silly of me to expect a response, but as of today I have yet to receive any correspondance from Fox 31 News. At the least, I would have expected a simple auto responder thanking me for my comments. I am thinking about switching news stations, but they all kind of suck. 9 News, has too much sports and I can't stand Kathy Sabine and Drew Soicher. Not to mention last Friday I checked the traffic on the 9 News web site (which uses www.traffic.com), before I left work. It said traffic on 225 north from I-25 to Parker would take 30 minutes and the average speed was 12 MPH. Thinking this was valid data, I chose to take the Dam Road, only to look down and a practically deserted highway. Forced to go 20 MPH along the Dam Road, staring down and the highway I had a lot of time to stew in my road rage. My normal 30 minute commute took an hour all thanks to invalid data on traffic.com (which 9 news uses). I think this is just laziness on 9 News´ part, let´s just use an external site that has traffic data (no matter how inaccurate) instead of creating our own traffic web page.

I had switched to 7 news for a while during my breif hiatus from Fox, but I was unimpressed. It was just ok. I am thinking of trying out channel 4 news now. They have a really cool traffic web site for Denver. I don´t think it is too much to ask that I find out weather and traffic updates before I leave for work. Maybe I should give up on TV and just check the internet before I leave.

10/16/06

I was recently in a book store purchasing Crashing the Gate. I had noticed a few days earlier on DailyKos they now had paperback available. I brought the book up to the man behind the counter and asked if they had a copy of the paperback. He looked at the book and said "No", but that he would check. I didn’t think that he would have a copy since it was a small book store and I had only seen the advertisement a few days earlier. I told him that I saw on one of the authors web sites that the paperback was out this week. He then preceded to tell me that usually paperback’s don’t come out until a year after the published date. He looked at his computer then at the book and said, "Well this was just published in July so you shouldn't expect a paperback out until July 2007".

I don’t know why it got to me, but it made me very upset. I had specifically told him that one of the authors was saying that the book was out in paperback, why didn't he believe me? To me, it seems to be more prevalent in the male species, this need to be correct and omnipotent. Why did he feel the need to talk out of his ass, just to "prove" that he was right? He wasn’t right, and only succeeded in making himself look like a pompous asshole. Is it so bad for someone to admit they don’t know something, or is it better to pretend that you know? I think in the later case you only succeed in making a fool of yourself.

8/10/06

After the primary elections on Tuesday I was pleasantly surprised to hear of Lamont’s victory over Lieberman, however there are some people who claim that Lamont’s victory is the fall of the Democratic Party. If anything, the victory in Connecticut shows that the Democratic Party is actually starting to stand up for what they have believed all along. For years now I have sat and watched the Democratic Party sit idly by while the Republicans take over. Sure, we have our opinions, but none are voiced loudly or voiced at all. I don’t understand why it has to be this way, but since I have been old enough to vote I have noticed this pattern in the party I have come to love.

I am reminded of the "flip-flopping" remarks of a recent presidential election. I still cringe when I think about Bush’s remarks about Kerry being a "flip-flopper" then turning, smiling and seeking approval from the crowd, like he has just invented the best catch phrase of any election, like it hadn’t been said a million times over, by the entire nation. But isn’t that what it all boils down too? That is what they think of the Democratic Party, that we don’t have a clear stand on any issue, that we are just a bunch of hippies, too strung out on acid to make lucid decisions. Maybe it is because the Democratic Party has come to stand for anyone who is not a Republican. It includes all the Independents, undecided, and un-politically involved people in America. No wonder the Democratic Party has such a hard time deciding their stance on issues, because we encompass over half of America. The only thing we can agree on is the Bush Administration is fucking up the country, but we can’t agree on what to do about it. Ironically neither can the Republicans, but no one is talking about that.

Then you have the DLC, they actually make decisions and come up with "plans" for the Democratic Party. But, they are too far to the right it is hard for the rest of us to see what they are doing. In the mean time you have the Republicans laughing because we cannot make any decisions and can’t do anything about the current status of the nation. The Republican’s know what to do, although completely wrong and based solely on ignorance and intolerance, but at least they are consistent.

For me, Lamont’s victory signals a change with the Democratic Party. Instead of protesting in the streets like the hippies of the late 60’s, the new age hippie is on his/her computer writing blogs in protest of what is happening in America. And it seems to be working. While the Republicans celebrate Lamont’s victory as a signal of disaster for the Democratic Party, I celebrate Lamont’s victory as the Democratic Party finally taking a stance for what we have believed all along. I also celebrate the fact that the netroot hippie can make a difference, that what we are doing is not in vain, but a chance to take back America for the better.