I was compelled to edit it after running into several people in Florida, and then one trusted source in DC that says they are increasingly seeing people that are basically expecting President Obama to solve all thier problems, including employment. One lady from Indiapolis, who is currently living in her broken-down car on Connecticut Ave. has told authorities that she is expecting a job from the President on the January 21st because he told her so on television.

This is scary stuff because there is an entire sub-culture out there that is expecting to either have a job provided for them or have a check written to them because they voted for Barack Obama. Forget personal responsibility or common sense. One official in Florida told me that people are acting like the Thessalonians. I hope that isn't the case. If so what is going to happen when these same people wake up and realize that Obama isn't the Messiah and that "Obama's [NOT] gonna' take care of that".

For me, this further exacerbates my tenuous relationship with the GOP: they don’t get technology and are thus alienating their base of supporters. More and more each day, I see the GOP loosing touch with their constituency and for that matter, loosing touch with issues that matter to the average American.

As was true in 1787 and is still true today: all politics is local. The real meaning of this didn’t really hit home until I worked with the Alabama Constitutional Reform Committee in 2002 and the Cullman Area Chamber of Commerce from 2002 through 2003. The true meaning of the phrase “All politics is local” can be explained as follows: in order to connect with a constituency, you must find a local issue can be connected to a State, National or Global issue, then explain in 4^th Grade terms how that State, National or Global issue is causing that local issue. You won’t get anywhere trying to explain Monetarist, Neo-Keynesian, or any other economic macro-economic theory effecting Joe Six-Pack. You have to make it personal and local.

First, there is plenty of opportunity to create your own legacy if you just grab a bucket of courage to break from family's legacy and know where to look: the best place being to start with the Internet job databases to figure out what skills employers want.

Second, the fact that military recruiters have to resort to subversive tactics to recruit people into serving their country bothers me on so many levels. One that recruiters would stoop that low to make their numbers. Two, that Americans aren't lining up to give back to this Great Nation that has given The World so much opportunity to those that ask. While I don't believe in a conscripted military, if things are this bad would make sense to adopt Israel's model of compulsory service in order instill the same sense of nation that Israelis hold so dearly? I wish I knew the answer.

Having worked for Domino's Pizza in college I know their management understands word-of-mouth advertising is stronger than the latest promotion. I also know that the majority of their customers don't use whatever promotion is going on because it doesn't quite "fit" the tastes and preferences of the average household. I remember studying a market survey in college that showed that despite promotions, you generally find the same things in a family's pantry and by extension the same things in their check-book register on a recurring basis. We are generally creatures of habit. For Domino's Pizza that translates into the average household ordering a large, two-topping pizza.

I'm wondering, “What marketing firm convinced the Upper Management at Domino's Pizza to betray the trust of their customer base?” Regardless, so long Domino's Pizza. Hello, Papa John's Pizza.

There are two factors at play here. First, most people don't know the difference between old and new technologies until it has reached a critical mass or is forced on them. One reason the market isn't demanding better quality music files is due to a lack of critical mass in HD-Audio equipment. Secondly, most people can't the difference in low-def and hi-def audio because of a lack of exposure to hi-def audio. This is called cognitive perception training.

In order to gain a critical mass, the price point for high-end electronics must meet two criteria: palatable price point and easy access to distribution points. For example, until HDTV was all over Best Buy and Circuit City at a decent price point (spelled access to financing), Americans had little interest in HDTV. Now everyone is raving about it.

Along the same lines, until Americans had easy access to HDTV, they generally had no clue how terrible the SD standard was. They had been trained into thinking that SD was just fine. Now that HD is mass-market, enough people have seen HDTV to know that SD stinks.

The same can be said of HD-Audio. Most people don't know what it sounds like. They don't know what it sounds like because the equipment isn't available at a price-point the market is willing to pay. How many people are willing to bay $10K+ for an amplifier and speakers that will even let you differentiate between 128k and 256k MP3 files much less AAC, FLAC or OGG Vorbis? My guess is very few. Until high-end AAC/FLAC/OGG Vorbis players, amplifiers and speakers are available at a price the market will bear, few people will know the difference in fidelity between 128k MP3s and a FLAC file.

Making matters worse is the availability of cheap but not so good sounding, recording equipment. Most of the bands that I listen to these days are of the mind of getting thier tracks down without regard to the fact they are recording on poor microphones to a poor audio interface with a poor A/D convertor at a low bit-rate and low band-width. For example, CDs still play 16-bit audio at 44.1 KHz. MP3s with compression vary; however, most MP3s purchased are 128Kbps at 44.1 KHz (something less than 16-bit but more than 12-bit). My recording equipment records at 48-bit and 192KHz, yet I don't have anything that will play it back that way except the actual recording equipment, digital amp and studio monitors. Once you've heard that level of detail and gotten used to it, CDs sound like AM radio. This really became self evident over Christmas when Rush released their latest album, Snakes and Arrows, on both CD and MVI DVD formats. The difference was so remarkable that I ripped the audio from the MVI DVD instead of the CD into MP3 just to pick up the extra detail on the recordings of the acoustic guitar.

So Lou Reed is correct in saying consumers should demand a higher standard; however, Lou should know that it is not just about a better file format than MP3 128Kbps. It's about the entire music industry providing better music recorded on better equipment, distributed on better file formats, and played on affordable equipment.

The latest example is the GMC Denali XT concept car. GM is bring an updated Chevy El Camino to the auto show with a hybrid engine. Nevermind that the Chevy El Camino looks silly. Dig into the story further: GM hasn't brought any concept cars into production in years. This will likely never see the production line as well. Adding to the poor excuse of a concept car is the 4.9-liter V8 with direct-injection gas burning engine with an output of ~326HP. Sure it will burn E85, but so does my 1996 Ford Explorer without modification or need for the FlexFuel logo plastered on the tailgate. The hybrid powerplant is the same as the of the Yukon hybrid which gets a whopping ~22.7 mpg. I'm trying to see how this is good for the environment or for my wallet. Not to mention the max. payload on this puppy is estimated at 1,100-pounds.

What GM and Ford has failed to see (again) is that the world has changed. We don't need big vehicles. Truth is, we never did. The only reason we have them now is that it somehow got woven in the fabric of American culture that we have to gluttonous just because we can. Don't get me wrong, I love my Ford Explorer, but it's going to the scrapheap as soon as I can afford to get the next generation Toyota Something hybrid running on a hybrid hydrogen fuel-cell powerplant.

Gluttony has never been good for anyone, let alone an entire society. It caused the downfall of the Roman Empire. It has gotten the world where it is with global warming. Gluttony also breeds contempt by third-world countries who are the most likely future generators of greenhouse gases and pollutants. This contempt breeds political unrest and thus local or regional violence breaks-out.

Simply put, if the United States doesn't set the example, someone else will. If GM and Ford won't step up, some other automobile manufacturer will. If GM and Ford don't start bringing designs to market that are pertinent to reducing energy reliance on other countries, halting global warming due to greenhouse gas emissions, and reducing toxic pollutants in the air; then another car company will. They should set the example instead of bringing us more concept cars that never make it to the production line. Toyota and Honda are already leading the industry. If GM and Ford does not act, their business model will no longer by relevant to the market and the long term viability of their existence as corporations will be called into question.

Sadly, GM and Ford may already be there. The next year will be the real litmus test. Will GM and Ford be able to pull out of their nose-dives once a new administration is in the White House?