I am introducing a new feature this week to Geoausch.Com–The Friday Five, a sort of “Week in Review” of my favorite things on the Internet. With the State of the Union Address on Tuesday night, this just happens to be a politically heavy week, but that won’t always be the case.
1. We start out with a piece, “Ailing Economy Needs Self-Interest, Not Sacrifice”, by Jonathan Hoenig, writing for the The Wall Street Journal’s “Smart Money” blog. In it, Hoenig provides the perfect rebuttal to the President’s SOTU polemic, exposing, among other things, the unsustainability of an altruism-based economy.
What results is a society built not on mutual benefit, as with capitalism, but mutual contempt, whereas one is endlessly forced to sacrifice for “the public” with the only hope that one day others will be conscripted to sacrifice themselves for you. Social Security and Medicare are just two examples of this multi-generational feudalism.
Capitalism protects individuals’ self-interest, collectivism kills it. So in a free country, why doesn’t the President simply give his unneeded “hundreds of thousands of dollars in additional income” over to the struggling parent, autoworker or whomever he feels is deserving of it? Why must his sacrifice become a national suicide?
Please, do yourself a favor, visit “Smart Money” and read the full article.
2. 
While the Republican candidates have been campaigning in the media for almost a year now, the Democrats have been quietly replenishing their war chest in preparations for an expensive general election cycle. I came across this piece by Jeannie DeAngelis on Big Hollywood about the fashion world’s contributions to the President’s reelection campaign. It’s poorly written and extremely biased, but it does illustrate the hypocrisy of the Left. They demonize Republicans for being “wealthy” and “out-of-touch” with middle-class America, yet the world’s most famous wealthy people all seem to be Democrats. Like the article points out, these are all attempts by super wealthy people to sell overpriced goods to a group of consumers that can’t afford them.I have no problem with wealthy people supporting Obama and certainly have no problem with them donating what ever amount they want to their politician’s campaign, but let’s cut the hypocritical bull shit. If any party is out of touch with the middle-class, it’s the Democrats.
3. On a lighter note, looks like Dwight might be getting his own TV show. Writing for DeadlineHollywood, Nellie Andreeva broke a story on Wednesday that NBC is working on a spinoff of The Office that would focus on Dwight Schrute’s beet farm. I don’t know if this is the right move, but The Office needs something. It is definitely getting a bit stale. That said, it’s still one of the best shows on network television and Rainn Wilson’s character is a major reason it succeeds.
4. Americans have been trying to legalize marijuana for nearly one hundred years, so legalization stories rarely register on my radar. However, folks in Colorado are taking a different approach. Instead of marching around shouting “legalize it”, they are pushing a ballot proposition that seeks to “regulate marijuana like alcohol.” This is genius. This way you proponents can compare marijuana to another (successfully) controlled substance, “these measures help us effectively control the consumption of alcoholic beverages and the world hasn’t gone to hell. Marijuana is much safer. Let’s apply the same standards to it and move out of the Dark Ages.” Of course, the writers at the Times have a much more eloquent way of saying this than me. Check it out!
5. Cyberbullying. We hear a lot about it and it sounds bad, but are some of the measures schools are adopting to deal with it going too far? My good friend Brian Cuban stopped by the NBC 5 studios in Dallas to discuss this issue last night. Some might consider this a shameless plug for a good friend, but I really think Brian has some great things to say about an area of the law that is constantly evolving.
Flashback Friday
My pick this week in “Flashback Friday” is Jeff Buckley’s posthumously release of live recordings, Mystery White Boy. I first discovered Buckley’s music shortly after his untimely drowning. For almost a decade, it was something special I shared with other hardcore music fans. Here was the ultimate independent musician who worked himself up from playing coffee shops in the Village to recording the perfect album. He spent two years touring promoting his perfect album and then died tragically. Hollywood could not script a better rock star story than the life of Jeff Buckley. Mystery White Boy gives you a good taste of Buckley’s original, while also given you a sample of his covers, including the one cover that almost ruined Buckley for me–”Hallelujah”. After the song was used on American Idol, and every Dick and Jane was downloading Buckley’s music, I put Mystery White Boy away, rarely listening to it. Well, this week, I decided to take it out my iPod exile and give it another chance. I cannot tell you how much I missed this album, but word to the wise, the album was compiled using taped recordings, so the quality is not terrific. To get the full experience, listen to it with a good set of headphones or on a good set up speakers. This is one album where it actually makes a difference.
