First and foremost, I am the biggest ESPN supporter on the planet. Or, at least, as supportive as any other sports fan out there. Here’s my beef.

In the past month and a half alone, ESPN has resorted to almost TMZ-like tactics in some of their reporting. All were situations with high profile teams and that needs to be noted.

At a time in modern media, where most companies are faltering, ESPN is succeeding, and expanding. But if this is the future of the Disney offchute, I am going to be one sad panda.

Ed Werder hammered the Dallas Cowboys on their ‘locker room chemistry’. Romo said this, TO was pissed, Romo and Witten love each other and hate TO, and TO just loves him some him – it was like a bad MySpace application. There was literally 10 or so continuous scrolling screens on the supposed Cowboys locker room tiff – while not showing anything on hockey whatsoever.

Second, Scott Pioli finally announced that Herman Edwards was fired as coach of the Kansas City Chiefs after three years. Quite expected (Herm, build on that!) But within the hour, Chris Mortensen was reporting that the Chiefs were “close to signing ex-Broncos coach Mike Shanahan” to be their new coach. In reality, Shanahan had never even talked to the team about the open position. Alledgedly, Mortensen had a ‘source’ in KC that the team ‘was interested’ in Shanahan to be their new coach. Mortensen then says it was imminent that a deal would be signed. Shanahan has said he will sit out 2009 while his ex-boss Pat Bowlen pays him the salary for 2009 his contract demands. EPIC FAIL MORTENSEN!

Third, this absolute horrendous crap on Mr. Torre’s book with Tom Verducci entitled The Yankee Years. ESPN ran bottomline updates 7 or 8 continuous lines with such propoganda as ‘Torre calls A-Rod ‘A-Fraud’”, ‘Torre says Cashman ‘disgraced’ him”, and other crap. Look this book is a third person narrative written by Verducci through Mr. Torre’s experiences. I will not say Joe didn’t get a crap deal in NY, he very much did, but the way ESPN jumped on it was like they were Jose Canseco ratting out anything he could to make a buck. I hate conspiracy theories, in the media anyway, but ESPN is just about as anti-Yankee as a media organization can be. That’s fine, much of America is anti-Yankee, but they aren’t exactly breaking any rules in the league. And for ESPN to pimp out a rival’s book (Verduccui writes for SI) like that was 100% unneccessary in my book.

This isn’t a big deal at ESPN right now, they’re a fantastic organization. But these are three examples in less than 60 days that legitimately pissed me off. By no means is this indicative of a larger problem, but the quick pace of these three ‘Tabloid’ like stories angers me.

So stop it Bristol. Cover sports the excellent way you do. Don’t cater to big market gossip and ensure your reporters have real leads before reporting ‘Breaking News’. Thanks.

While American titans of commerce like Lehman Brothers, Citi, GM, Ford, and Circuit City (to name a very brief few), another American company had  a banner year in 2008. You, of course, already know. Fast-food giant McDonald’s said Monday its 2008 net profit soared 80 percent from a year, lifted by growing demand from consumers seeking low-cost meals in a deepening global recession.

Net profit for the full year totaled $4.3 billion, compared with $2.3 billion in 2007.

“2008 was a strong year for McDonald’s… Our model remains recession resistant,” Chief Executive Jim Skinner said on a conference call with analysts yesterday.

McDonald’s said its U.S. business benefited from the addition of the Southern Style Chicken biscuit and sandwich, improved service at its drive-through windows, and the expansion of its high-end coffee drinks.

With the extraordinary 2008, McDonald’s did however warn of international slowdown in net income citing what company executives believe to be the world’s other largest economies are sliding simultaneously into recession stemming from the American recession.

Hell, I probably hadn’t eaten at McDonald’s since I saw Super Size Me, but for some reason I did hit up the golden arches a few times last year solely on price, convenience, and fast service.  I was not proud of it, but for some reason I did it. And I assume many others did the same with these astounding figures being reported.

So sleep easy knowing that at least one American company is prospering in this merciless economic climate.

I think one of the biggest talking points of the new Obama administration is going to be the battle between the State Department and the Department of Defense. President Obama has throughout this election coverage maintained that the USA should engage in more active diplomatic relations with potentially hazardous nations. A lot of people disagreed with him on that, especially his willingness to immediately sit down with such foreign leaders as Ahmadinejad, Castro, or Chavez to name a few.

With the signed order this week to close down Guantanamo Bay prision within a year, you could literally feel the Department of Defense cringing. The DoD has hold a stranglehold on US foreign policy over the past 8 years in the Bush administration. Rumsfeld and Cheney basically ran out international relations – how’d that go? The state department were pawns in W.’s global cowboy wrangling. Sending Gen. Powell to the UN to say Iraq had WMD’s was the lowest of the low.

Back to my main point, President Obama made a move this week that could prove I’m right. Usually the new incoming President makes the Pentagon his first stop once in office. Instead, President Obama went to the state department this week for a ‘rah-rah’ motivational push to support his new Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

I’m pumped about it. The DoD shouldn’t worry about their absurd funding being cut (we do after all recognize there are foreign enemies with intent on destruction) but they should be worried about their almost ‘need’ for war. Robert Gates is a hangover from the Bush administration as Secretary of Defense, and I’m okay with that. He is an intelligent man that deserves to at least groom someone of Obama’s choosing over the next year. The DOD is a complicated department in the global age with daily technological advances.

But in Barack Obama alone presents the chance for a new world of diplomacy and prospects of peace. Fidel Castro of Cuba, since falling ill last year and relinquishing day to day Presidential responsibilities, has remained fairly out of the limelight. He said this week of Obama, “I do not harbor the slightest doubt about the honesty with which Obama has expressed his ideas, but that despite his noble intentions, many questions remain to be answered. But I do wonder, how can a wasteful and consumerist system par excellence preserve the environment?”

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez warmly greeted President Obama’s inauguration yesterday. The firebrand socialist, who has promised to end what he calls U.S. imperialism and called Bush “the devil,” praised Obama’s decision to close a prison in Guantanamo, Cuba that has drawn harsh international criticism. “Barack Obama is a man with good intentions; he has immediately eliminated Guantanamo prison, and that should be applauded,” Chavez said, speaking to supporters in a televised speech. “I am very happy and the world is happy that this young president has arrived. We welcome the new government and we are filled with hope. We cannot say that everything that comes from the United States is bad per se, because we would be acting irrationally”

So while not expecting tense relations with either country to stop tomorrow, we have every reason to be optimistic going forward. In three days Obama has two of our highest profile foreign ‘enemies’ praising him and the hopes of relations between their country and America in the future. Cuba isn’t going to accept democracy overnight and Chavez isn’t going to relent his criticisms of our country, but it’s the first rung in the ladder that we certainly couldn’t climb with Bush at the helm.

Here’s hoping the state department gets to trump the DoD in the Obama administration. Fingers crossed.

In April 2001, my family was on a road trip for a wedding in South Carolina. My parents decided to take a few days in Washington, DC for us kids to see the city. It was a very cool time. We were allowed to tour the White House, walk unguided around the Capitol and each Senate/House chamber (Thanks to Sen. Clinton!), and had the general monument tourist freedom that was erased on September 11th of that same year.

I say this because while I remember a lot of ‘historic’ things from that trip. What stands out at me most vividily (Besise the super clean DC metro), was all the merchandise that knocked President Bush. He had only been President for three months of course, in what was a very controversial election. He lost in the popular vote and only became President when the Supreme Court decided not to delay the process by scrutinizing ballots in Florida.

“Hail to the thief!”

“Thank you Oh-hi-ya & brother Jeba-di-ah!”

I couldn’t really believe there was so much animosity for a new President. He really hadn’t done anything wrong yet! In fact, his approval ratings at that time were abysmal. When 9/11 came along, of course, our nation rallied behind him and his approval ratings went to the highest of any modern President. The honeymoon of W. continued. We were behind him when we dismantled the Taliban in Afghanistan, and despite the lack of evidence and uneasiness, about 50% of the country approved of us attacking Iraq – without UN approval.

Fast forward to the January, 2005 inauguration. Bush beat John Kerry for a second term as President. It was a fair win this time. But that didn’t stop people from disliking President Bush. By this point, he had simply alienated too many people. That 2005 inauguration was a low point in American history. People pelted the President’s limo with eggs and other debris. Pepper spray was used on protestors and riot police had to be brought in. The car had to be sped up to end the parade early. The whole ugly scene really set the tone for his second term in the Oval Office. The inauguration was marred by hate, unhappy Americans, and a generation of our apathetic youth making empty promises of moving to Canada.

Yesterday American swore in President Barack Hussein Obama as the 44th American President (Not without a big flub by Chief Justice John Roberts!). There was no tear gas, no riot police called, and no eggs. There were about 1.9 million supporters there to witness history and zero arrests.

People cried. People chanted ‘Yes We Can’. When George W. Bush and Dick Cheney were announced there were a chorus of inappropriate ‘boo’s’ followed by the beloved chorus, ‘Nah nah nah nah, nah nah nah nah, Hey hey hey, Goodbye!’. People that were at the 1963 March on Washington revisted the area where a preacher from Georgia spoke of his dream and they were there to see much of that dream fulfilled. People danced. People sang. People said, ‘it was like God was speaking to them.’

Of course, President Obama is no messiah. He is no savior. He is a man. A man with an extremely long task in front of him to try to steer the American ship through its current stormy waters.

In Barack’s speech yesterday, he called for a “new era of responsibility in America.” USAService.org was officially launched and an, oh so sleekly designed, new and improved WhiteHouse.gov was flipped on at exactly noon yesterday. President Obama wants us to get back to rebuild America’s promise. And as the Pastor said this morning at Obama’s opening prayer, “Maybe the best thing we can all give our new President is prayers during these tough times.” Guy needs all the help he can get.

Barack acknowledged the challenges before us saying, “Today, I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America–they will be met.”

President Obama, and I take great pride in saying that, also called on the Muslim world in two facets. He tapped Islamic fundamentalists by saying, “We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.”

In speaking to the rest of the Muslim world, “we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society’s ills on the West–know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history, but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.” Probably the most memorable bit of a speech that was low on historic rhetoric but spoke to the severity of the moment effectively.

What Barack Obama means today is the same as meant for us the past two years: Hope and Change. While hope isn’t a policy as much as change is only an empty promise, we believed in hope and change for two years. While not everyone was initially sold on the rhetoric, more so, are coming around in Obama’s transition approval (~80%). I think you’ll be hard pressed to find a more active President-elect in American history. We are all in this together. Barack has always pushed the ‘you’ and ‘we’. If we are going to fix this country, it will take a better effort. A willingness to work harder. A willingness to be a better parent. A willingness to be a better student. A willingness to live a healthier lifestyle. A willingness to speak for those that cannot speak for themselves. A willingness to look inward before blaming others first. A willingness to abandon the ‘me first’ attitude. The willingness to accept all-creeds and all-peoples. The willingness to smile more. And the willingness to accept the notion of a better tomorrow.

Cynicism will get our society nowhere. Hating Obama isn’t going to help our situation in any capacity. As Obama said in that 2004 DNC keynote, “We worship an awesome God in the blue states, and we don’t like federal agents poking around our libraries in the red states. We coach little league in the blue states and, yes, we’ve got some gay friends in the red states. We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the stars and stripes, all of us defending the United States of America”

The pessimism, while welcome for discussion, can not be your first instinct. I want to live in a world years from now when I can tell my kids that America came together, like nothing we had done before, to make the world a better place for everyone, not just ourselves. President Obama is not going to be able to do it on his own. And even years from now if the pundits give Obama all the success of transforming our nation, he will be wise enough to recognize the work that we the people put in, in order to form a more perfect union. Optimism – hope – change. Don’t be ashamed of optimism. Don’t let others break the will of your internal resolve. Don’t let those hopeful ideals fade into the dark January night. Continue to hold on to these triumphs of the human spirit.

President Obama closed his speech with that push of optimism, “Let it be said by our children’s children that when we were tested, we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God’s grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.”

Yes We Can.

Less than 24 hours from now, America will swear in Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States. It is appropriate, at this historic point in American history, that today also happens to be Martin Luther King Day. The poignant civil rights leader, who championed equal rights for all Americans, would be proud to have been around for tomorrow’s festivities.

The issue of race still has a long way to go in our culture. We have long strained our social and economic relations in America based solely on the issue of race. Racism is still very much present in everyday life.

With Barack’s inauguration, hopefully we will build on the momentum of this movement and continue to work together. Discussions on race shouldn’t start with ‘we’, ‘they’, or ‘them’. We’re Americans. And we’re humans. It doesn’t always have to be about white, black, hispanic, or asian. I’m not, however, advocating a color blind society because that would impair the great things that each race’s history brings to the table in our society.

I am hopeful for the negativity and hate to subside that evolves from race. We can overcome our past prejudices and welcome a new day for race in America. It starts with the individual. Be an independent pioneer of racial equality. If you hear something ‘bad’ about a different race; anything you don’t agree with, is untrue, offensive, or just plain ignorant, speak up for yourself. We’ll never achieve pure equality if we don’t start the dream in our own lives.

And finally, Dr. King’s historic ‘I Have a Dream Speech’ is below. The message still rings as clear today as it did decades ago. We are one race, human. And until we battle racism with vigor, it will persist. President Obama’s election goes a long way in the hope for racial equality – but it is only the start. Let’s independently renew our plight against racial injustice.

I will admit to everyone, on the cusp of President-Elect Obama’s inauguration, that I have been drinking a lot of ‘Obama Kool-Aid’. I get it. I’m a ‘fanboy’, a ‘Socialist’, a ‘Liberal-elite’, and a ‘commie’.

So much of life is 50/50. Us humans are dumb creatures. We do not know anything that is coming. But we can look back.

I want to look back to the 2004 Democratic National Convention. John Kerry, with John Edwards at his side, were challenging the incumbent George Walker Bush for the Presidency of the United States.

It was a highly controversial time. We had just invaded Iraq and overtaken Baghdad on the assumption that Saddam Hussein not only harbored weapons of mass destruction with intent on using them to harm Americans, but also that the deceased dictator was directly linked to the 9/11 tragedies in New York City and Washington, DC. Both of which have proven to be false.

And while John Kerry and John Edwards didn’t win that election season, the DNC gave wind to a young man from Chicago. A Harvard educated state senator, with a track record of local grassroots success in Chicago, versus another Harvard educated GOP hasbeen, Alan Keyes. Elephant in the room? Both were black candidates in a notoriously white historical Senate.

Barack Obama was a late addition to the DNC. He expected a small role in the convention process, competing in a Senate race in the hotly competitive political year that was 2004. Yet he took to the stage graciously, and offered America, in my humble opinion, one of the greatest political speeches of all time.

When I first saw it, I was a semi-informed idiot kid. I first compared it to FDR and JFK. His poise, his timing, and his charisma – it was something I had never seen from a politician in my lifetime. I was rooting for him.

He won the Junior Senate seat in Illinois that year. When he started traveling the state to hear from the people what he could do to improve the state, everyone said,”Barack, not only can you improve our state. You should improve America.”

What at first was merely flattery from his constituents, the message became overwhelmingly clear as Barack traveled – people wanted him to change the landscape of American politics.

And the rest, they say, is history. Legions of Americans will write books about Barack Obama. The millions of grassroots volunteers this election season will continue his spirit and make the Democratic party a formidable foe in the decades to come.

When I endorsed Barack Obama to be the 44th President, a good friend of mine who is not religious told me, “Dan, you know I have a better chance at becoming a devout Christian than Barack does of becoming President right?”

My own Dad told me, “There is no chance that Barack Obama will be President.”

Truth is, I belived both of them. But I was inspired by him. He was a real chance for America.

And it all comes back to this speech. My favorite political speech ever. Closely coupled by the inaugration address’ of FDR, JFK, the speech on religion by JFK as a Catholic, the amazing communication ability of Robert Kennedy, and even Barack Obama’s speech on race this past summer.

If you haven’t watched this speech before, do yourself a favor and listen for 18 minutes. If you have watched this speech before, you owe it to yourself to watch it again. After all, this man was only a state senator four years ago and is now on the brink of history of being our 44th President. This was Obama’s introduction to America. We have since got to know him very well, but this speech still stands out as my Obama ‘Ah-Ha’ moment. Kick back and watch political brilliance in motion.

Bankrupt electronics retailer Circuit City Inc. announced yesterday it will close its remaining 567 U.S. stores and liquidate all its merchandise and physical assets. Doing the math, that leaves ~34,000 Americans out of a job.

“We are extremely disappointed by this outcome,” James Marcum, acting CEO for Circuit City, said in a statement. “We were unable to reach an agreement with our creditors and lenders to structure a going-concern transaction in the limited timeframe available, and so this is the only possible path for our company.”

The Circuit City website and service call center will cease operations today.

Liquidation operations are beginning today and running until March 31st of this year. The company said it will redeem its gift cards through the liquidation sale, but the cards will have no value once the stores are closed.

For those hoping to score a super-cheap clearance big ticket item, check yourself fool. When liquidators buy merchandise, they are taking a gamble. While getting that inventory at pennies on the dollar, they don’t have any guarantee of selling it. So they revert to MSRP for their price points, which is almost always way higher than retailers price items for. Once at the MSRP, they have their huge 25% clearance sales, which often result in prices higher than what the store was selling them for originally. Just something to watch out for, don’t get scammed.

Anyone who was watching the company for, let’s say the past three years, could see this coming from a mile away. First they stopped giving commision to their salespeople. Which in turn resulted in poor customer service. People just didn’t give a damn about selling you a TV. One guy actually told us to go to Best Buy once straight up. What did he care? His commission was gone, he had his hourly rate and he was helping us. And then once revenue slowed, they laid off so many of their best people to save costs and started hiring just about everyone. CC’s customer service started to resemble Wal-Mart in people that had no clue what they were doing or talking about in terms of electronics.

Then Best Buy started sprouting brand new stores with high ceilings and more flourescent lighting than humans are supposed to take in. The stores were clean, bright, and flooding with shiny goodies. CC’s were dark, dingy, unorganized, and quiet. Checkmate right there.

Love Goel, CEO of Growth Ventures Group, a private equity firm focused on retailers says, “Circuit City isn’t a viable business in its old incarnation when half of electronics sales have moved online,” Goel said. “CompUSA and Tweeter also didn’t make it for the same reason,” referring to two stores forced to close most or all of their locations.

The only hope for CC could be if one of their leading bidders comes along and decides to make the company more of an online business with very few physical stores. This would eliminate overhead costs, vendor conflicts and other issues. Seeing as CC had over $1B in online sales last year alone, there has to be some sort of future in that regard for the brand.

But regardless, this is bad news for everyone. For the 34,000 newly unemployed people, for the retail industry (to lose such a massive company and show everyone that retail is hurting more than people think), and for the consumers. We lose another choice and another competitor. Expect a bump at Best Buy. They will bring in Circuit City’s most knowledgable people and increase pricing. Then they can refocus as the ‘expert’ big box electronics store. This would give them a decisive strategic competitiave advantage over Target and Wal-Mart while also taking dead aim at local ‘Ma&Pop’ electronics stores in terms of service and knowledge.

"Take that suckahs!"

Fresh off the Polar, I mean Obama, Express’ steamroll into Union Station in DC yesterday, Barack Obama will be inaugrated Tuesday in a most historic day in the history of this nation. But what the president-elect may be most giddy about is that he has decided to keep his BlackBerry firmly attached to his belt after taking the oath to be our nation’s 44th President.

For months, experts have expressed concern about potential security breaches of Obama’s electronic gadget of choice. Not to mention the complexities of the Presidential records deal.

However, he has remained steadfast in his desire to keep his BlackBerry to stay in touch with the outside world.

Obama told CNN’s John King that his BlackBerry is just one of a number of tools that he will use to “break out of the bubble” of the White House, so the average American can still communicate with him.

“That if I’m doing something stupid, somebody in Chicago can send me an email me and say, ‘what are you doing?’ Or, ‘you seem detached,’ or ‘you’re not listening to what is going on here in the neighbourhood,’” Obama told John King. “I want to be able to have voices other than the people who are immediately working for me be able to reach out and send me a message about what’s happening in America.”

Research in Motion offers encryption on their BlackBerry’s (and how much are they loving this publicity?). Yet government officials have tried to sway Obama to use a government approved phone device – Yes, cringe, the Palm Treo on Windows Mobile. Atrocious.

But Obama seems intent on being the first Black(Berry) President, saying, “Now, my working assumption, and this is not new, is that everything I write on e-mail could end up being on CNN anyway. So I make sure to think before I press send.”

The Commander-in-Geek is at it again.

The WSJ reports that Obama’s pick for FCC chairman is Julius Genachowski, Obama’s top tech adviser. He’s the mastermind of the Obama’s technology and innovation plan that supports net neutrality and ubiquitous cheap broadband. Genachowski, a Harvard Law classmate of Obama’s, served at the FCC during the Clinton years.

He promises to be a different kind of FCC chair that current chairman Kevin Martin. Most crucially (for nerds), Genachowski supports net neutrality, while Martin was opposed to it.

Martin also had a streak of relaxing media ownership rules, while Genachowski’s plans call for “media-ownership rules that encourage more diversity.” Meaning big telecoms like Verizon and Comcast are going to be sad pandas.

Broadcasters are keenly interested in whether Mr. Genachowski will take a more moderate approach to enforcement of indecency standards. Thousands of complaints backed up at the FCC over the past few years after the agency’s tougher enforcement policies — and multimillion dollar fines — were challenged in court by broadcasters- all stemming from the notorious Janet Jackson ‘wardrobe malfunction’.

The Obama tech plan called for the U.S. to increase its definition of “high speed” Internet and reform a $7 billion federal phone-subsidy program to help cover the costs of offering broadband in rural areas. And if appointed Genachowski will take lead in bringing the US to a digital only TV nation, as the Obama camp has called for a delay to the proposed changeover next month.

On the other end of the political spectrum, the Democratic Party is arguably at its greatest strength in decades. While Democrats also controlled the White House and Hill in 1992, their margins of strength were much stronger this time around. And in terms of past Presidents, Democrats have been greatly outnumbered. So here is where we are- Americans were fed up with the failures of the GOP in power and have called upon the Dems to clean up the mess- Can they possibly live up to their hype and continue to win elections going forward?

Democrats are now the new face of progress and youth in America. We’re the ones who will march for a cause, fight global warming, demand equal rights regardless of race, religion, or sexual orientation, and accept all creeds as our equals in a shifting population curve. We don’t want the government to infringe upon a woman’s right to her own body, want America to stop playing babysitter in the international community, will actually utilize foreign allies including the UN and NATO, and will make political corruption in the digital age a thing of the past. We make less than $200,000 per year, or more than $2 million per year. We are educated, tech savvy, increasingly politically aware, and above all else, motivated, a very bad sign for GOP supporters.

Led by President-elect Obama, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and Top Representative Nancy Pelosi, Democrats finally have the unified front in Washington they have been lacking for years. Replacing the old with the new is a new theme here. Barack built his campaign on ‘change’, and therefore decided against tapping Sen. Clinton to be his running mate, even though the political upside was huge. Howard Dean is out as DNC Chairman and Obama friend Tim Kaine is in. He stayed true to his word throughout this election, refusing money from PAC’s or Lobbyist’s. Democrats must work swiftly to implement ‘change we can believe in’ that their strength has been built upon.

The first order is to secure the additional $350B bailout funding for Obama’s economic recovery plan. The outgoing Bush administration was given the $350B without much of a problem and the transparency in its implementation was, well, non-existent. We don’t know where the money went and leaders are having a tough time getting any answers. Now leaders are hesitant to give out another $350B given what happened with Bush and his cronies. While the outgoing has essentially ‘lost’ $350B in taxpayer money, Obama has promised transparency throughout the process and immediate relief to those who need it. In a closed doors meeting yesterday, Obama apparently strong-armed a lot of Senior Democratic leaders in his insistence on getting this stimulus money secured. If that says anything to you, it should. He’s a leader who will make demands from his political superiors to get done what he said he would do.

Secondly, President 44 must quickly erase the mistakes of President 43, via executive orders. He must move swiftly to reverse executive orders regarding torture of terror suspects, the military prison at Guantanamo Bay and other controversial security policies. Not just for campaign promises but for our diplomatic standing and even moral relevance. “I was a constitutional law professor, which means unlike the current president, I actually respect the Constitution,” Obama told an audience at a campaign fundraiser in 2007. And he keeps insisting that “there is only one President at a time”, but it seems he’s been more Presidential in the past month than W. has in eight years. And as I said before, I hope, and believe, that he will move as quickly as possible to remove the stains from a failed administration.

Third, they must make good. If sustained Democratic presence is going to be maintained in DC, and in communities across America, we need to see viable improvement in the next two years. Unemployment numbers are going to get worse before they get better (Say 10%?), I fully expect ’09 to be another down year in the financial/credit markets, and violence abroad will not completely cease. Americans need to be steadfast in holding their government responsible going forward.

On Election night, Barack said it would take up to ‘a full-term in office’ to possibly begin to curb the failures of the past eight years. He now has the toughest job in modern politics but he has a Democratic congress, like Bill Clinton did before, to achieve the results we so desperately are clinging to.

On November 5th, people danced in the streets across planet Earth at the renewed idea of America and what we stand for. If that doesn’t excite your hopes for the forthcoming ‘Obama years’, I don’t know what can. In one day our world standing was returned. In a world where China, India, and Russia are making progress, America was able to establish their sole position on top with the election of one man.

Can they live up to the hype? No one can know. But Americans made the right decision to curb the inadequacies of the past administration and give the other guy’s a turn. At the least, the ’10 and ’12 elections should be entertaining.

As much as George W. Bush would like to believe, the destruction he and his cronies laid down upon America the past eight years has been nothing short of near- catastrophe. America went from being the shining beacon of exemplary action to “Those Americans are so stupid” in just eight short years.

Not only did W. run amok our global agenda, but he may have damaged his party so badly, there is little chance of GOP survival going forward. Let me explain…

Republicans are now polarized so deeply they will never be able to beat the now unified Democrats. There is the Southern, talk radio Republicans (Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin, etc), what George W.’s “mastermind” Karl Rove defined as “the base” in W.’s two election victories. That faction is officially dead, but they won’t admit it. If that group of Republicans were still viable, we’d be inaugurating John McCain this week. They couldn’t beat a black guy with the name ‘Barack Obama’.

The smarter GOP faction is the Northern, Business minded Republicans (Those that got John McCain on the ticket). Many Republicans did not like John McCain because he was too liberal. How silly in hindsight. John McCain would have been a fine President. But he couldn’t get his own supporters behind him because of this great GOP divide I see erupting in America.

And to top it off, those Business Republicans are going to get so fed up with the Bible Belt ‘base’ Republicans that they are going to jump ship and re-elect Obama and keep a liberal congress in place. And the business Republicans are outnumbering the moral Republicans, 56% of Republicans say they care most about taxes, economic growth, and national security. 34% of Republicans say they care most about abortion, guns, and family values.

So what does the GOP do? First, they need to say ‘Goodbye’ to the likes of Sarah Palin and Joe The Plumber. That type of politics is officially dead in America. Americans have realized what happens when you elect the candidate you’d want to have a beer with. Intelligence is officially back in American policy making.

Second, they need to go back to being the ‘Business Party’ and not the ‘Moral Party’. Humans are all corrupt beings. That whole morality thing worked twice for them, but it is over. The GOP needs to harness the Reagan approach to government and push for free market principles and stop pushing the Bible at every turn.

Third, they need new leadership at the top. Think about it for a second. The Republicans have become the ‘old rich white man party’ in America. At a time of shifting diversity and the generational baton being passed down from the baby boomers, being the old white rich man isn’t going to win any elections going forward.

Old white & rich won't win elections anymore

So who should step up for the GOP in the coming years? Mitt Romney? Mike Huckabee? Sarah Palin? Rudy Guiliani? Jeb Bush? Gen. David Petraeus? Nope, none of the usual suspects are going to have a shot in hell of beating Obama.

Republicans need to take a look at someone like Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal. I don’t know if he is the exact answer the GOP needs, but he is the best I can come up with. He, or someone similar in terms of a fresh face with fresh ideas are where the GOP needs to go from here. Not with the cronies of yesterday’s politics.

It is going to be a long road back for the Republican party with the destruction abroad caused by the current administration. While I welcome their future competition and ideas on how to improve America, I am a pretty satisfied citizen knowing the GOP is a weakened force at this point in American history.

Barack Obama faces a host of challenges when he assumes the Oval Office later this month, but the hardest personally for the president-elect might just be relinquishing his cherished BlackBerry.

For years, like legions of other professionals, Mr. Obama has been all but addicted to his BlackBerry. The device has rarely been far from his side — on most days, it was fastened to his belt — to provide a singular conduit to the outside world as the bubble around him grew tighter and tighter throughout his campaign.

President-elect Obama has yet to relent, but conceded that he may be losing the battle.

“I’m still clinging to my BlackBerry. They’re going to pry it out of my hands.”

But the Secret Service, as well as Obama lawyers, are concerned it could easily be hacked and are demanding the new president hand over the BlackBerry before he moves into the White House. The Secret Service also made President Bush give up e-mail when he assumed the presidency, and former President Clinton, during whose term e-mail became widely-used, sent a grand total of two e-mails while president.

Nevertheless, aides to the president-elect said he hopes to be the first president ever to have a laptop at the ready on the historic Oval Office desk.

But Obama says his BlackBerry has been a great way to stay in touch with his hectic schedule. “I’ve got to look for every opportunity to do that – ways that aren’t scripted, ways that aren’t controlled, ways where, you know, people aren’t just complimenting you or standing up when you enter into a room, ways of staying grounded,” he said.

Here is my hope: he shuns the naysayers and keeps the thing! You don’t need to be a computer lover to see that smooth information flow might be a help in tackling the complexity of the financial crisis, Iraq, Afghanistan, education, and health care. Tech policy starts at the top. Obama should set a precedent by having the ‘Berry at his side: Here is a government that is accessible, capable, and efficient. Plus, let’s be honest, a man’s gotta have it for all those long, boring meetings. Am I right?

When it was announced two week ago that Steve Jobs was not going to deliver this year’s Macworld keynote for the first time since he returned to the company he co-founded with Woz, the interwebs went abuzz that Steve’s cancer must have returned.

Instead of Jobs, delivering this year’s supposedly final Macworld keynote is Phil Schiller, Apple’s senior VP of worldwide product marketing. Who by all means would be on a very worthy short list of potential successors to Steve. Him or Ives would be the choice in my humble opinion.

Steve Jobs is leaving Apple. Not tomorrow, but probably very soon. And that is what I really believe regardless of how many PR blurbs come out otherwise.

At the very, very best, this is another step in the direction of Steve Jobs retiring, and the company preparing the world for an Apple without Steve. I don’t really want to think about the worst, but it is hard not to.

Apple’s official claim for Jobs cancellation is that Apple is pulling out of MacWorld altogether next year anyway. What we have seen happen in the last few years is Apple use the internet and their marketing dollars to reach the mainstream without the mainstream press. They probably don’t need Macworld or that major expense, even if Apple can afford it. Apple’s launched plenty of product at Cupertino HQ recently and they’ve all done well, and on Apple’s own timetable. (Macworld is in January, at the slump of the retail world’s cycle.) Essentially they don’t need MacWorld anymore to hype their products. Apple isn’t a nerd company anymore as much as they think they are. They are mainstream, Eastview Mall, suburban teenie bopper mainstream.

But again I don’t buy that as the reason. Apple, and moreover Mr. Jobs, have treated MacWorld as their baby for the past decade, using the keynote to deliver the company’s prized new products.

Is it money?

This opaque announcement is more mysterious, and uncertainties tend to be more troubling than truths, even hard ones. If Steve really is worth $20 billion to Apple’s market cap, once the news spreads, expect it to plummet further, faster. An iPhone delay rumor might knock off a few billion, but the suddenly realer than ever possibility Apple’s wizard-in-chief really is about to fade into the night—something that spooked traders even when Jobs actually did make an appearance—is an even more drastic event.

But as plausible as those scenarios are, I really think they are merely disguising the truth. Even if Steve is 100% healthy, this is a sad end of an era at Apple. Jobs returned to the company in 1997 when Apple was essentially floundering with almost zero market share and hints of bankruptcy. Every year the company has grown stronger with him back at the helm.

When he appeared last year looking very skinny, people immediately assumed the worst. But Steve joked about his rumored illness, gave a full Steve Jobs keynote, and joked and looked healthy enough to diminish those rumors.

But this sudden, dramatic announcement says to some, loudly and unfortunately clearly, that Jobs’ health has taken a significant dive since his appearance introducing the new MacBooks. Anyone that knows Jobs, knows he is a control freak that oozes passion and confidence. If this really was Apple leaving MacWorld, he would want to give the final keynote. At least a brief, headlining appearance Jobs, followed by a team effort announcing new products—if for no other reason than to dispel the alarm that’s already shaking the internet, but also to make the transition even smoother.

But taking the optimism with the rationale came a report this week from Gizmodo.com’s “Apple DeepThroat” source. Apple is very, very tightlipped. This source has only spoken to the site a very few number of times, and each time was 100% accurate on product launches, product details, and screenshots of products.

He said to Gizmodo, “Steves health is rapidly declining. Apple is choosing to remove the hype factor strategically vs letting the hype destroy apple when the inevitable news comes later this spring.This strategic loss will be less of a bang with investors. This is why Macworld is a no-go anymore. No more Steve means no more hype. Saying they are no longer needing [Macworld] is the cover designed by the worldwide “loyalty” department.”

When he says that, I can only hope he means Jobs retiring from Apple on his own accord. Steve Jobs’ health is nobody’s business, not the press, not investors, not the public. But it doesn’t seem like good news.

Steve Jobs have been giving Macworld Expo keynotes since he came back as interim CEO of the company in 1997. Since then he has never failed once, always introducing notable products both at Macworld San Francisco and Macworld New York. During his latest Macworld keynote, in 2008, he introduced the MacBook Air. Later this year, he used his WWDC presentation to announce the new iPhone 3G. He has been shunning the limelight more toward his pals basically trying to say, “Hey, look, Apple is more than Steve. These are The Guys, the Goodfellas, the A-Team. They share the same vision I have. And they are going to push the company forward when I change my office chair for a hammock and caipirinhas on my private beach in Hawaii.”

Love him or hate him, Steve Jobs is probably the single person most responsible for personal computing proliferation. He sold the idea of everyday people using computers. That alone makes him iconic. So maybe Apple’s official announcements are true. Or maybe, as being worried, Mr. Jobs is fading on us fast. Both are possible. But both paths lead down the road to a future without Steve Jobs as CEO of Apple, Inc.

If 2008 was any indication, all of you should be prepared for nerds taking over your world. No longer are football jocks and beauty queens in power, the geeks that run the world behind the scenes are stepping to the forefront…are you ready?

Let’s think about the nerd invasion that was 2008.

The Macy’s Parade Rick Roll

Oh, don’t know what a Rick Roll is? Do you use the internet?

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=rick+roll

Words don’t describe how awesome this was. I was watching it live and couldn’t believe I was being Rick Rolled- in real life. I think I blew a funny fuse.

The New York Met’s Rick Roll

The Mets this year held an online vote for the song they would play in the stadium. There were five options I believe, none of which was Rick Astley’s tune. But the interwebs took over and launched a writein Rick Roll campaign, and they effin won. Another real life Rick Roll. The lines between virtual and real world are being blurred before our eyes.

Anonymous Versus Scientology

Members of the 4chan boards and others formed the world’s largest flash mob to take on the cult while wearing V for Vendetta masks, making international news in the proce- covered by all news outlets, staging global protests at Scientology “churches”, and making Scientology a global accepted ideological mockery.

The Dark Knight

Comic books are loud, brightly-colored, fun bits of eye candy; a temporary distraction from real movies that are somber and serious,talk about big issues and feature Meryl Streep. While always performing well at the box office (The Nerd masses are growing!), no notable critics even thought of mentioning a comic book movie in any Oscar sense. Then The Dark Knight came along, a record-breaking, critically and commercially successful, bona fide phenomenon. If you didn’t see it opening weekend, you were weird.

It was directed by a real director and written by a real writer (both had Academy Award nominations to their name).

For the first time, the creators acted like they weren’t ashamed of the material. They didn’t make it campy or self-referential, to let their cool friends know they were above it all. For once, they were treating the material as seriously as the fans did. The result was a comic book movie that will get serious Oscar consideration. Already there are two Golden Globe nominations for Heath Ledger, to go with nominations for awards from the Screen Actors Guild, and both the Chicago and LA Film Critics.

Now the Nerds are taking over movies too?

Old People Are Getting Noticably Confused, and Hence, Pissed Off

In 2008, two books were published within five months of each other about how geek culture was going to destroy the world. Susan Jacoby was inspired to write The Age of American Unreason after spending the night in a modern college dorm. The students chatted online with headphones stuffed in their ears instead of actually interacting with one another. She ultimately decided that the students had wrapped themselves in an “iPod coccoon” that was responsible for “a new species of semi-conscious anti-rationalism.”

The book immediately became a bestseller. At first, this must have looked like a problem to yet another writer (Mark Baurlein) who was about to publish a book that basically said the same thing.

But he soon realized there was room for improvement, as she had failed to explicitly call an entire group of people retarded in the title. So in July he published The Dumbest Generation, which used a barrage of startling claims and an absurdly long subtitle to explain (deep breath) How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future (Or Don’t Trust Anyone Under 30).

But like I said, they are just getting confused and left behind, so are responding with anger. Young people don’t much like old people, and vice-versa. Look at the election alone for what kind of generational gaping differences there are in America.

A Newsweek article disputed these books pointing out that cognitive scientists believe information technology is making us smarter and also pointed out that IQ scores have been on the rise since the 1930′s.

Academics have a long proud history of freaking out in the face of progress. They have studied a topic for so many years they know all the ‘facts’ there is to know, and anything other than those facts are wrong. Isaac Newton’s laws of mechanics was called “a rape manual” by the academics of his day.

The Newspaper is Dead- And Most Print Media is in ICU

2008 was all about mainstream media being flooded with eulogies for the newspaper. (A newspaper is a bunch of sheets of low grade wood pulp that used to give people their information–think the Drudge Report, but slower and without flashing graphics that told you which story was actually important). In case you haven’t seen one in awhile.

I happen to love the idea of newspapers, and what they once stood for. But its over. Information is too quickly and readily available than every morning. You’re reading a blog right now by some kid with only bootstrapped communications credibility. And you’re learning, more than an Op-Ed from some Professor at Brockport.

As media mogul Rupert Murdoch put it, the newspapers spent the last 15 years “remarkably, unaccountably complacent . . . quietly hoping that this thing called the digital revolution would just limp along.” In other words, they called the digital revolution’s bluff, and lost, hard.

I am sorry that people are losing their jobs in print, but they are in a lot of industries. Adapt and react. The local Democrat and Chronicle would actually probably succeed if they adopted a more conservative view in a conservative area. Just saying. It would suck, but they might survive.

And last, but certainly not least.

We elected this man:

A Blackberry addicted, Star Trek watching, YouTube addressing, Presidential GEEK. Geeks come from all political spectrums. From those who thought Sarah Palin was “fucking retarded” and those who thought she was merely “retarded”, her condition not rising to a level that would require the “fucking” modifier.

A lot of football jocks and beauty queens enjoyed the “ignorant and damned proud of it!” attitude from Palin, as she smirked and winked and demonstrated what seemed to be a high schooler’s grasp of politics. But what’s important is that many, many American elections have been won with that shrugging, “aw shucks, I’m just common folk with no use for that high falutin’ fancy book-learnin’” act. Not this time.

We elected W. twice over brainiac Democratic nominees Al Gore and John Kerry. Somewhere along the way we equated honesty with low intelligence and that goofy neighbors are the people we want running our country. Not me! I want Columbia and Harvard educated brainiacs making the decisions for the commonwealth.

In 2008, that same stage was set again. The white, elderly, self-effacing war hero who boasted that he finished at the bottom of his class in the Academy. The small town beauty queen. American as Springsteen at the Super Bowl.

They were matched up against a young, not-white guy with a foreign name who did not run on his humble roots, could not boast that he was a war hero, and  would probably go into a violent seizure if his Blackberry were taken away.

Then he threw the switch on an online fund raising machine that drowned the campaign in cash (or more accurately, drowned McCain’s campaign with it) and mobilized a high-tech “ground game” that will be studied by every future campaign, volunteers dispatched by advanced databases that tracked every voter.

That’s right: he simply out-geeked McCain.

McCain’s campaign fought back with the most advanced tactics in its own arsenal: the “our opponent is a closet Commie” tactic that worked so well for Eisenhower.

They seemed shocked to find the world had changed in the last 56 years, and it was in the absolute ass-beating that occurred on election day we saw how stark was the divide between generations that I mentioned above.

McCain won 1 age group: Over 65 years old.

Everyone else went Obama by increasingly higher percentages as you get younger (he more than doubled McCain’s margin among 18-29 year-olds, 66% to 32%).

The ones who had the highest stake in the future–because they are still going to be alive to see it–overwhelmingly voted one way. And the future is what the Geek is all about. That’s why we love technology and gadgets and sci-fi. It’s about looking forward and embracing what’s coming, unafraid.

This is a huge change; we grew up hearing grown-ups talk about the past in glowing terms, dreaming of returning to old-time values and an era when all was right with the world, when there was no crime or gays, when women knew their place and America dominated the globe.

The geek, on the other hand, looks back and sees a time when couples on TV couldn’t be shown sleeping in the same bed, when calculations were done with pencil and paper and having a friend in Japan meant waiting eight weeks for a letter to arrive.

The Nerds are taking over, and it’s about damn time.