Freyburg

…..and I’m seemingly running out of things to say on this blog. When I started the blog sometime in 2000, I did so to force myself to write every day.

10 years later, I’ve accomplished that task. I now write for a living, freelancing for various magazines as well as creating videos for clients.

Of course, all of this activity requires time, energy and attention, none of which I can devote to the blog while in working. Throw in Facebook, Twitter, and my podcast and I just can’t muster up a post most days.

But that doesn’t mean I’m giving up on the blog. On the contrary, I want to keep it up as long as possible. But I’ll have to figure out a way to do so and not interfere with my busy life. Stay tuned.

Hmm, not quite the song and dance of the last eight years.

In a speech on Meet the Press worthy of Obama’s elecution, General Colin Powell explained that he feels Obama is not only a “transformational figure” but that Sarah Palin is not ready to be President of the United States (which is, after all, her job as VP) and that the Republican Party has swung too far to the right. Special mention should go to his addressing the insidious nature of calling Obama and Arab and Muslim. As Powell put it, it wouldn’t matter is he was, and if seeing Obama inspires some seven-year old Muslim American to someday become president, so much the better.

Michael Lewis, the author of “The New, New Thing,” recently rented out the biggest mansion in New Orleans, a house he’d lusted after as a boy and found overwhleming once he moved in. He also found that being inside a house thats way beyond your means, even if you’re renting it, says a lot about both the American psyche and the subprime mess the US currently finds itself in.

Matt Taibbi (who usually writes for Rolling Stone) has posted a cynical, angry and heartfelt screed on Smirking Chimp about what Sarah Palin’s candidacy says about middle-class America’s love of image over substance and blind consumerism over thoughtful discourse. It’s certainly biased and bile-filled, but it’s also exceptionally well written and not without some truth.

Watch CBS Videos Online

As seen above, Sarah Palin’s grasp of geopolitics leaves something to be desired. And there’s the outside chance she could be the President one day, so there’s that.

Rolling Stone has a great article up about how Bush, along with the Republican Party’s tendency to exploit and create polarity between Americans, has essentially ruined the party and flushed away a legacy that began with Reagan. It’s Rolling Stone, so it isn’t exactly the most unbiased source, but it’s a fascinating read.

Witness this disaster:

Apparently, not only is Obama just a flash in the pan, but the voting public are stupid and easily swayed by celebrity. Which may very well be true, but McCain isn’t going to get any votes by rubbing that fact in their faces. All this ad does is reinforce how out of touch, old, and unconnected to regular everyday society McCain is. The guy doesn’t even know how to use a computer, for crissakes!

FISA, the amendment which will allow the American government to conduct warrantless wiretaps on its own citizens, is scheduled for approval this Tuesday. In the video below, Tim Ferris, the author of the “Four Hour Work Week“, interviews Daniel Ellsberg, who exposed the Pentagon Papers and was a key figure in both ending the Vietnam War and bringing down Richard Nixon. Watch the video and find out just how the privacy and freedom of American citizens is being frittered away in order to chase terrorist boogeymen.

What Every American Needs to Know (and Do) About FISA Before Tuesday, July 8th from Tim Ferriss on Vimeo.

So, just when you thought Bush couldn’t screw things up any further, the push for biofuels has pushed the world into a food crisis. That’s just great.