Pepsi
ObamaPersonally, I don't think they are that close. It's true that both are red, white, and blue and both are circular, but it's certainly not strange for a politician to use the U.S. colors in a campaign (in fact, it's more rare for them not to), nor is it unusual for a logo to be in a circle. You know what I think the new Pepsi logo looks like? The old Pepsi logo.
I think they wasted a couple hundred million on an ad designer who basically decided that the white swoosh should turn up instead of down on the right side. Yep, that's some value for your money.Next topic. In reading this week's Economist, I came across an article on Turkmenistan. Now, I know that people in most of the rest of the world do not have as simplistic names as we do, but I came across one that is just obscenely long. The current president of Turkmenistan is Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov. Good luck fitting that on a bumper sticker. If they charge by the letter, the campaign could go bankrupt just from printing yard signs. Let me take a stab at phoenetically pronouncing this one. I'm gonna go with Ger-bahn-goo-ly Bir-dy-mook-ham-ma-dawv. Anybody got any better ideas?
I've been following the Israel-Hamas conflict with interest. I don't have a whole lot of thoughts on it, other than that it is obviously a bad thing for stability in the Middle East. That is not at all to say that Israel isn't justified in doing what they are doing (I think they certainly are) but it definitely sets the peace process back quite a bit. During times of relative calm, it's easier for 3rd parties to try to act as a peace broker between opposing forces. But once the conflict turns hot, it pretty much forces everyone in the region (as well as all the major countries of the world) to line up behind one side or the other, and that makes it hard for anyone to be seen as a neutral party capable of mediating. Years of baby steps forward are completely erased overnight. It is times like these when I am most pessimistic about the long-term. I said shortly after 9/11 that realistically I saw only 3 eventual outcomes from the Middle East situation: 1) we wipe them out; 2) they wipe us out; 3) we wipe each other out. Sadly, 7 years later not much has happened to change my mind about that. But, as with climate change, nothing would make me happier than to be completely wrong.
Finally, the unresolved Senate seats make for some interesting January pre-inauguration news. The Roland Burris appointment has unfolded very interestingly. Last week, it was pretty much seen as a given that Burris wouldn't be seated when Congress convened yesterday. Even Burris seemed somewhat resigned to it, telling the Sun-Times that "if he is turned away at the ceremony, he won't make a scene." Then over the weekend, things suddenly took a turn as more and more people came to the conclusion that "gee, I guess Blago is still the governor, and unless we have proof that Burris obtained the nomination through illegal means, we don't really have any legal grounds to not seat him." But, as usual, the Democrats couldn't be pro-active about it. They still chose to not seat him yesterday but now it looks like they will today (or at least sometime soon). Even though it's easy to resolve, flip-flops like this drive me crazy. If there are no new facts to consider, why are you coming up with a different conclusion today than the one you had yesterday?
The other Senate situation still needing to be resolved is the one in Minnesota. On election night, incumbent Norm Coleman led challenger Al Franken by 215 votes, triggering a mandatory recount. Now, after the recount process has been completed, Franken now leads by 225 votes and Coleman has filed a lawsuit challenging the results. I think this is an extraordinarily bad idea for Coleman. Now let me be clear about this. I am not an Al Franken fan. In my opinion, he's the sort of extreme leftist in the Michael Moore type mold that give moderate liberals a bad name. Nevertheless, in the absence of extraordinary circumstances, dragging the election results through the court system does far more harm than potential good. There will always be ballots that can be contested (i.e. where someone marks down both candidates and then crosses one out) and there will always be controversy where some absentee ballots are discounted and then allowed or vice versa. But there is just no way to legitimately win an election in a court room. I thought it was a bad idea when Gore did it in 2000 and I think it's a bad idea now. I don't often say this, but I think maybe that LA has it right. If no candidate gets over 50% of the votes on election night, there should be a run-off a few weeks later. Either that or there should just be an automatic run-off if the result is within 1%.
5 comments:
The Obama logo is a RWB rising sun. But Pepsi is delicious. I call it a tie.
Not much to say about Israel/Gaza. It is a centuries old conflict that has to do with land and religion. Nothing the US can do when children are bred to hate. It is like Michigan/Ohio State with guns. Ok, no it is not. That was stupid.
The Burris thing is still troubling. I have a problem with the fact that Jesse White has a job that is non-optional and mandatory. I mean, what is the purpose of him signing the certification if it is forced? Also, that is what people had a problem with. He came to the senate with an unsigned certification. So they didn't let him in. Then it turns out that not certifying him is illegal, so maybe that isn't a good excuse not to confirm him.
See, the problem with this whole situation is that it is (as far as I know) singular. If Blago was up on corruption charges for simply screwing with the Tribune, fine. If Blago was up for any number of crimes, there probably wouldn't be that big of a stink about his appointee. However, the charges include trying to sell the very seat he is trying to appoint.
I am all for innocent until proven guilty, but a man accused of selling the seat can not be permitted to appoint. Plain and simple. Is it constitutional? Probably not, but it is the right thing to do. A teacher accused of child molesting isn't allowed to keep teaching until convicted.
Unfortunately in this case, there is no 'one time exception' law.
*highlight, ctrl/c, publish*
Yeah, I agree that this is one of those cases where the "right" thing to do is contradicted by the "legal" thing to do. I think the only thing to do in situations like this is to abide by the law in this instance and then pass a state law that states something along the lines of "any governor that has been arrested while in office with charges pending will not be permitted to make appointments. Instead, a special election will be held." I realize that there is the possibility of some corrupt state's attorney trumping up charges against a governor they don't like, but if the worst case scenario is that democracy happens I think I can live with that.
I maintain that I'm not the only one that thinks there's a very clear influence... i guess the question is now, who influenced who(m?)(I'm not going to bother looking up the grammar rule on that one... i always forget it anyway).
Anyway, even Slate had an article regarding it and the Obama/Pepsi relationship: http://www.slate.com/id/2198198/
(no tinyurl, so you can check it out Weir)
As far as Israel and Hamas/Palastine go, I think you all know how I feel about this.
Go Israel!!!
Maybe a surprise for some of you here... Burris should be seated. He was legally appointed (apparently) and though I despise Blag, he hasn't been convicted of a crime YET, and the law makes no disctinction between an innocent Governor and one who is probably (but not yet) guilty. This really does point out how urgently we need to arrange for his constitutionally guaranteed speedy trial.
On the Franken/Coleman subject, I looked at the Minneapolis Star Tribune Bugler Times Sun Daily, or whatever the name was, and they had a web page set up where you could sort through a few hundred of the disputed ballots, and see for yourself exactly what was being disputed, why it was, and what the adjudication of the dispute turned out to be.
I was sickened. It looked like both of them were disputing stupid things, but Franken (or his lackeys) were disputing votes for Coleman that were CLEARLY for Coleman. I'm not saying they were all like that. Just the sampling of about 20 or 30 that I looked through.
And I really don't understand why the absentee ballots are being rejected. Regardless, MN state law apparently requires that any ballot submitted be counted, if it is at all possible to determine for whom (I think that was the right use) the vote was intended. !EVEN IF! the ballot was improperly marked, instructions were not followed, the ballot was folded spindled and mutilated.
That is a STUPID law. If people can't follow simple directions, like MARK A FREAKIN CIRCLE LIKE THIS, then they should be tossed.
I read that slate article, and what I took away from it was this: Pepsi made the move increasing the average drink from 6oz to 12oz.
Therefore Pepsi is to blame for the obesity epidemic and can be sued if you are fat. Like Tobacco companies for giving you cancer.
Seriously though, on the Burris situation, something not mentioned here, but in other posts is that Blago gave the Illinois Congress plenty of time to decide to hold a special election. They decided not to.
1. Blago has no intention of resigning and will be Governor through an extended legal battle.
2. There will be no special election.
3. Blago appoints someone rather than having Illinois down a senator for 3 months.
He'll get seated, probably tomorrow or Friday. Seniority wise, he's already at the bottom, and his chances for re-election in 2 years are slim.
Okay, maybe if I comment on the Obama/Pepsi thing we can get a new blog entry?
I don't think they look anything alike. Lots of logos are circular, and lots have red, white and blue, especially in the U.S.
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