Friday, January 11, 2008

The Only Thing We Have to Fear...

  • What I'm Watching/Listening To/Reading:
    • Interesting point on "Countdown" this week -- Obama ended up getting about the same percentage of the vote as the polls said he would. It seems that a good number of the undecideds (and maybe Edwards supporters) went for Hillary when they got into the booth.
    • This book about pool hustling I'm reading -- quite a crazy world that I didn't know existed. I'll stick with the cards.
  • Random Thoughts/Links:
    • I'll take the four home teams to win this weekend, although I think the Chargers-Colts game will be the one big blowout. The Cowboys are definitely coming off a rough stretch, much like last year. I've been looking forward to Jacksonville-New England for a while.
    • Why do the kids love Ron Paul so much?
  • Daily Rant:
    • Someone said today at work that they support Clinton because we need experience in the White House due to the fact that "we live in a dangerous world." I could feel the emotion welling up in my chest and to calm myself down; I hate that argument with a passion that I don't show many other things. It's an argument for Bush or Giuliani, an argument for fear. Lots of bad things can happen to us every day and terrorism is a really small part of that. Do you worry every day about getting in a car accident? If you worry about terrorism, you should. Heart attack? Stroke? Both extraordinarily more likely than dying in a terrorist attack. I'm not being overly optimistic or naive -- the world is no more dangerous a place than it was on September 10th, 2001. Maybe if you're an Iraqi, you have a better chance of dying. Maybe if you live in certain parts of Africa. But not in Rockville, MD or Santa Fe, New Mexico or Bismarck, North Dakota or anywhere in the United States. Stop being scared, just stop. It was good enough for our parents and grandparents when FDR railed against it -- knee-jerk fear is a sign that you are not thinking for yourself, a plague that has affected all too many Americans over the last six-plus years.

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