September 2008

From LATimes.com: Sarah Palin said yes, thanks, to a road to nowhere in Alaska

The 3.2-mile-long partially paved “road to nowhere” meanders from a small international airport on Gravina Island, home to 50 people, ending in a cul-de-sac close to a beach.

Crews are working to finish it. But no one knows when anyone will need to drive it.

That’s because the $26-million road was designed to connect to the $398-million Gravina Island Bridge, more infamously known as the “bridge to nowhere.” Alaskan officials thought federal money would pay for the bridge, but Gov. Sarah Palin killed the project after it was ridiculed and Congress rescinded the money. Plans for the road moved forward anyway.
…
“Surely we won’t have to commute on the highway if there won’t be a bridge,” said Jill Jacob, who has been writing and calling the governor’s office for the last two years to protest the road. “It’s a dead-end highway, a dead-end road.

From Newsweek.com: Palin Admin. Oversaw $26 Million ROAD to ‘Nowhere’

A campaign led by Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) to redirect the funds to a New
Orleans bridge damaged by Hurricane Katrina failed. But Congress
amended the legislation allowing most of the money to be used for any
transportation project in Alaska.

For reasons that remain unclear, the bill left intact language
requiring that $48 million be spent on “earthwork and roadway
construction” for the Gravina Access Project.

According
to Menzies, the Alaska DOT official, that meant the money could only be
used to build projects directly associated with the $398 million
bridge. The only alternative, Menzies said, was to return the money.

“I don’t think there was any discussion about that,” he said.

This stuff just gets crazier and crazier as you dig into it.  The money could have been used to fund repairs for a bridge damaged by Katrina, instead it goes into a road that goes nowhere.

From AP.com: Palin supports $600 million ‘other’ bridge project

Gov. Sarah Palin may eventually have said “no thanks” to a federally funded Bridge to Nowhere.

But a bridge to her hometown of Wasilla, that’s a different story.

A $600 million bridge and highway project to link Alaska’s largest city to Palin’s town of 7,000 residents is moving full speed ahead, despite concerns the bridge could worsen some commuting and threaten a population of beluga whales.
…
At the time, Palin’s running mate for the Republican ticket, Arizona Sen. John McCain, derided both projects as wasteful. He called Young’s highway bill a “monstrosity” that was “terrifying in its fiscal consequences.”

$600 million dollar bridge for the 7000 people of Wasilla? 

Palin was for the Bridge to Nowhere and then kept the money when it was canceled.  And now she’s for the Bridge to Wasilla, her hometown.

How McCain can continue to tout her as a reformer is beyond me.  She’s just a product of Alaskan politics, power and cronyism at its worst.

In honor of John McCain’s new tactic of “damn the country, I’m going to win at all costs”, I’ve created a new campaign sign that reflects this new reality.  Enjoy!

So “Windows. Life without walls” is the campaign slogan. I can already hear what a Seinfeld not paid by Microsoft would say in his monologue: “If you live a life without walls- why on earth would you need windows?”
— Jan, Mississippi

This election isn’t American Idol or some other reality show where you just choose someone for President because you like them or you can see a little of you in them. This election should be about ideas and who’s best able to implement them. 

From Valleywag.com: Microsoft announcement tomorrow: No more Seinfeld ads!

Microsoft’s version of the story: Redmond had always planned to drop Seinfeld. The awkward reality: The ads only reminded us how out of touch with consumers Microsoft is — and that Bill Gates’s company has millions of dollars to waste on hiring a has-been funnyman to keep him company.

These ads were horrible.

Microsoft has no clue how to market the company hence this new marketing roulette.  The problem these days for Microsoft is that they’re completely reactionary now, trying to catch up in areas where they’ve been soundly beaten.

It really helps to have a product innovative enough to be worth talking about.  Not just another copy.

Related story:
From The Huffington Post: Jerry Seinfeld: Microsoft’s New $10 Million Pitchman

From MacRumors.com: Commuters: Get Extra Sleep with iNap

Ever wanted to get some sleep during a train ride, or a quick powernap on the bus to work? You either hoped to wake just in time not to miss your station, or set an alarm to wake you far too early… Let iNap wake you when you get close to your stop!

The application uses the iPhone GPS to wake you when you arrive at or within a certain distance before arriving at your destination.  Pretty cool.

Gas here in Cincinnati has been $3.99 since the wind storm blew through the city on Sunday.  Most places now seem to have power and no shortage of gas, but the prices are still pretty much $3.99.  I have a feeling that $3.99 was chosen because it was the largest amount they could raise prices without seeming to be gouging customers.

From NYTimes.com: Making America Stupid
Op-Ed Piece by Thomas L. Friedman

Why would Republicans, the party of business, want to focus our country on breathing life into a 19th-century technology — fossil fuels — rather than giving birth to a 21st-century technology — renewable energy? As I have argued before, it reminds me of someone who, on the eve of the I.T. revolution — on the eve of PCs and the Internet — is pounding the table for America to make more I.B.M. typewriters and carbon paper. “Typewriters, baby, typewriters.”

Too often in politics it seems like you have to choose sides, even if your side doesn’t really make any sense.

From NYTimes.com: Fiorina Sets off Flap, Saying Palin Not Ready for Big Business

“Do you think she has the experience to run a major company like Hewlett-Packard,” Ms. Fiorina was asked.

“No, I don’t,” Ms. Fiorina said.
…
Later in the day, Ms. Fiorina defended her comment on MSNBC by adding others to the list of people who could not run Hewlett-Packard either: Mr. Obama, Joe Biden and, also, John McCain.

You’d probably have to add Carly Fiorina to the list of people who couldn’t run Hewlett-Packard either.

The major difference between being CEO and President of the United States.  As CEO, you’re actually accountable for failure.