October 27th, 2011 by John Feehery
The rich are different than you and me.
And it isn’t only that they have more money.
The rich have come under attack recently, so I decided to take a look at who is really, really rich.
And what I found was a group of people who have changed our world profoundly.
Think of the Walton family, responsible for Walmart.
The Mars family, responsible for all of that Halloween candy.
Bill Gates and the dearly departed Steve Jobs, who revolutionized how we work, how we interact, how we live.
Mark Zuckerberg founded Facebook, and the Google guys are at the top too.
There is Warren Buffett, a role-model for all the savvy investors.
And at both ends of the political spectrum, you have controversial figures like George Soros and the Koch brothers who made their money because they worked hard and were smarter than their competitors.
These folks have collectively revolutionized modern society. They had vision, creativity, persistence, and an innate toughness to get where they got.
So why should we begrudge them their wealth? Why should we talk them down and try to take their hard-earned money away from them? Read more...
Tags: Babe Ruth, Bill Gates, debt crisis, Facebook, George Soros, google, Mark Zuckerberg, Steve Jobs, the Koch brothers, The Mars family, The rich, the Walton family, Walmart, Warren Buffett
Posted in Economy, Financial Crisis, Government, History, Politics, Presidential election, Social Media, Theory, spending, taxes | 3 Comments »
August 10th, 2011 by John Feehery
According to Wikipedia, a flash mob is “a group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform an unusual and sometimes seemingly pointless act for a brief time, then disperse, often for the purposes of entertainment and/or satire. Flash mobs are organized via telecommunications, social media, or viral emails. The term, coined in 2003, is generally not applied to events and performances organized for the purposes of politics (such as protests), commercial advertisement, publicity stunts that involve public relation firms, or paid professionals.”
Neither the Obama campaign of 2008 nor the Tea Party movement of 2009 can be characterized as flash mobs under that definition, although they share many of the same characteristics.
Under that definition, the Arab Spring protests also don’t qualify as flash mobs. They had a political point to them.
Flash mobs have overtaken London and other British cities. They don’t seem to have any point to them at all, other than rage and terror.
Flash mobs have also rose suddenly in many American cities. The Wisconsin State Fair was besieged by black flash mobsters whose only goal was to terrorize white citizens. Imagine, for a moment, if white flash mobsters decided to terrorize black citizens. Al Sharpton would be doing his new MSNBC show from wherever the white racists did their deed, and we would never hear the end of it. Read more...
Tags: Al Sharpton, American flash mobsters, Arab Spring protests, British flash mobs, flash mob, Milwaukee attacks, Msnbc, Obama, snow ball fight in Dupont Circle, Tea Party, terror, terrorism, terrorist, Wisconsin State Fair attack
Posted in Bad Decisions, Government, History, Politics, Social Media, Theory, bad news, terrorism | No Comments »
June 2nd, 2011 by John Feehery
Anthony Weiner, the voluble Congressman from New York, may or may not have been caught with his pants down. Nobody knows for sure, but it sure makes for a great media story.
The gist of the story is that a picture of Weiner in his underwear was sent, via Twitter, to a co-ed across the country. But several questions have been raised. Is it really Weiner? (The picture shows only the underwear portion. He isn’t saying it is and he isn’t saying it isn’t.). Did Weiner Tweet the picture? (He says he didn’t.)
These threshold questions beget other threshold questions. Why is this college co-ed following Weiner? Why is Weiner following her? Why does Weiner only follow good looking women on Twitter? What does his wife think?
The most important question, though, is: Who cares?
I certainly don’t care. If Mr. Weiner wants to Twitter a picture of his package wrapped up in tighty whities to somebody over the age of 18, why do I care?
Some Republicans think that Mr. Weiner should face the same wrath that faced Chris Lee. But I got news for you guys. Weiner is not going to resign. Democrats don’t resign in the face of sex scandals (and this can hardly be classified as a sex scandal). Read more...
Tags: America, Anthony Weiner, Barney Frank, Bill Clinton, Chris Lee, Congress, Conservatives, Democrats, election, Gerry Studds, Government, New York Congressman, Politics, Presidential election, Republicans, twitter
Posted in Bad Decisions, GOP, Government, History, Media, Politics, Presidential election, Scandals, Social Media, The Web, Theory, bad news, election | 1 Comment »
November 23rd, 2010 by John Feehery
Every once in a while, as I peruse my Facebook friends, I run across a friend who has put “It’s complicated” in their relationship status.
It’s a phrase that neatly sums up the world we are now living in.
The economy is complicated. Some sectors are doing swell, others are in the deepest of depressions.
Sex is more complicated. You used to have male and female. These days, you have third choice, transgender. That is not the kind of complication that my grandmother spent too much time worrying about.
The war on terror is complicated. Was Iraq part of the war on terror or was it a war of choice? Why are we in Afghanistan? Are we winning or losing there?
Race is more complicated these days. It is not as easy as black and white, and now people are starting to get that. The President isn’t fully black or fully white. In fact, he is about half and half, and calling him either white or black is a disservice to his grandparents on either side of the family. Tiger Woods is even more complicated. He calls himself cablanasian (caucasion, black, asian). Read more...
Tags: Barack Obama, complicated, Conservatives, Democrats, Economy, election, Facebook, Government, health care, Iraq, Obama, Politics, Presidential election, Republican, Republicans, spending, taxes, tiger woods, Unemployment
Posted in Economy, Financial Crisis, Foreign Relations, Government, History, Laws, Liberal Media, Media, Politics, Social Media, Theory, Unemployment, election, health care, national security, spending, war | No Comments »
October 27th, 2010 by John Feehery
So, which side in this election cycle has raised the most special interest cash?
According to the New York Times, ah, that would be the Democrats.
Which special interest group has spent the most money trying to influence voters?
According to the Wall Street Journal, that would be the union representing government workers.
Which President got elected because of the influx of unaccountable, untraceable money from hedge fund billionaires?
That would be Barack Hussein Obama.
Which Presidential campaign was accused to soliciting money from foreigners?
Once again, that would be campaign of one Barack Hussein Obama.
Which party strongly supported campaign finance reform that basically destroyed political parties in this country, but created enough loopholes to make it easier for shadowy, outside groups to raise and spend money on elections? That would be the Democrats.
Which Congressional Leader has raised the most special interest money in this election cycle?
That would Nancy Pelosi.
Who would be in second place?
That would be Harry Reid.
Why is the news media completely fascinated with the money raised and spent by Congressional Republicans, but so matter of fact about the money raised and spent by Congressional Democrats and by the President? Read more...
Tags: Barack Hussein Obama, Barack Obama, Democrats, election, Government, money, Nancy Pelosi, Obama, Politics, Republican, Republicans, voters
Posted in Fundraising, GOP, Government, Politics, Social Media, Theory, election, spending | 1 Comment »
September 10th, 2010 by John Feehery
We live in a fine print world.
The devil is in the details, as the saying goes, and boy, the devil is having a field day these days.
You leave your phone on while you travel into a foreign country, and the next thing you know you are facing bankruptcy because of excessive roaming charges. When you complain, hey, you should know better. It’s in the fine print.
You pay a day late on your credit card; the bank slaps you with a huge late payment fee. When you complain, hey, you should know better. It’s in the fine print.
You have to change your flight because of a family emergency, but the airline makes you pay through the nose for privilege. When you complain, hey, you should have known better. It’s in the fine print.
You use a social networking site for fun, and all of sudden, you get deluged with all kinds of crazy advertisers. When you complain, hey, you should have known better. It’s in the fine print. Read more...
Tags: credit cards, government healthcare, rip offs, Social Media, the fine print
Posted in Government, Liberal Media, Media, Politics, Social Media, Theory, health care, spending | No Comments »
May 25th, 2010 by John Feehery
A little more than a year ago, House Minority Whip Eric Cantor came up with what I thought was a smart idea. He convinced a group of distinguished Republicans, including Mitt Romney and Jeb Bush, that the GOP needed to spend some time listening to the voters to find out what they wanted from their government.
He founded the National Council for a New America with that express purpose. Why don’t we just listen for a change?
For his efforts, Cantor was widely disparaged. The left hit him with spurious ethics charges because he used official resources to listen to the American people. The right, including luminaries like Rush Limbaugh and Tony Perkins, huffed that Cantor and his ilk lacked principle because they didn’t know what they stood for.
It was a ridiculous spectacle, because if there ever was a party that needed to step back and actually listen to the people, it was the Republican Party in the aftermath of the 2008 election. Read more...
Tags: GOP, gov 2.0, Government, Social Media, web
Posted in Social Media, The Web | No Comments »
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