Hills of Hayward

First thing I do when I wake up is turn on CNN or MSNBC morning news. As I brush my teeeth and take a shower, I let my mind wander in the news stories that are presented. These days, I find my mood to be downright somber with a mild case of depression after listening to another report of “38 Bombed in Iraqi Market”, or “Senator Voted-for-war-but-didn’t-know-the-facts today announced that he is running for president in 08″.

What has been saving me these days are video blogs. These little video snippits of subversive humor and wry social commentary have been my pick-me-ups in the morning. A couple of video blogs that I regularly follow are RocketBoom and The Show with Ze Frank. They present an alternate view of the world that is refreshing relief to the rigidness and ultimately banality of traditional media.

Watching the George W. Bush’s State of the Union address yesterday, I had the glimmer of hope that maybe W was starting to listen to people outside of his inner circle.  His proposal for “20 in 10″, reducing US gasoline use by 20% in 10 years, really got me excited.  Could Bush actually be on the right track for once?

The blogs were abuzz with the SOTU analysis today, and unfortunately it seems Bush is yet again playing word games.  Over-promising and under-delivering.  The twenty percent reduction is not a reduction in current gasoline usage, but a reduction in the projected gasoline use 10 years from now.  Even if this plan is executed, we will still be using more gasoline as a nation 10 years from now than we currently are.  How will this help US gain energy independence?  How will this weaken terrorist revenues from high gasoline prices?

The rest of Bush’s energy proposals seem to follow the same theme, lip service towards green issues.  Here is a well-written breakdown of how disappointing Bush’s energy proposals are.  The article also identifies the beneficiaries of his energy proposals.  Just a hint, it is not me nor you nor the environment. 

Every so often, my wife lets on to others that she did not grow up in the US.   This is usually done through a casual remark that showcases this cultural gap.  I have begun to call these situations, “Christine-isms”.

Here is one that occured this Holiday season as we walked through Hermann Park in Houston looking at the Holiday Light displays.

As we passed a display of the little reindeer shown above, Christine and her sister yelll out, “Look, there is Bambi!”.