Archive for July, 2006

Be Careful…

Wednesday, July 26th, 2006

Once again the fun of campaign finance reports in Kansas.  The Topeka Capitol-Journal has a great break down of each war chest.

The choice quote in the article comes from Christian Morgan, campaign manager for State Senator Jim Barnett’s Gubernatorial Campaign.  In response to the news that current Governor Kathleen Sebelius raised $2 million, Morgan stated:

"She’s got $2 million on hand. She’s going to need every penny of that to beat Jim Barnett."

Mr. Morgan, let me just remind you to be careful of what you wish for.  We’ll see how you survive getting all two million dollars in the General Election.

A Horrid Spiral Down

Thursday, July 13th, 2006

There are those times and incidents that you watch and just hope that things will either end or look like they are getting better at the least. The current situation in Israel is just one of those situations. Unfortunately, the only direction for this has been down.

The problem started when Hamas militants kidnapped an Israeli soldier. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert decided that the soldier needed to be returned and without the prisoner swap the militants wanted.

Thus the Israeli Defense Forces moved into Gaza. They bombed and shelled power stations. Imposed a lock down on areas they were occupying. Pursued people they suspected as helping the militants. They also took the extraordinary step of arresting members of the Palestinian Parliament. The thoroughness of this operation is breathtaking.

Yet, we hadn’t seen anything yet.

Yesterday, members of Hezbollah kidnapped two Israeli soldiers near the border with Lebanon. Now the IDF have Lebanon in their sights. They just hit the runways of the international airport and a major Lebanese Army base near the Syrian border.

The question to ask is how much farther down can this go?

Given the current pace, I would not be surprised if Syria gets involved actively. I mean an actual war between the nations, not just the back door support they give to Hamas and Hezbollah. If Syria has not actively engaged within a week, if not a lot quicker, I’ll be very surprised.

Would Iran jump in too? Egypt? Nothing can be ruled out right now. I’m sure that somewhere in the depths of the IDF headquarters someone is even thinking of how to use their nukes.

Let’s hope that someone finally gets smart and brings all the sides to a table and negotiates an end to this. Otherwise, everyone all over the world will feel this problem at the pump.

Commercial Castration

Wednesday, July 12th, 2006

Ah, nothing like the commercials for drugs these days. Right now the worst of all of the ads is the one for Flomax. Flomax is a drug that is supposed to help men with prostrate problems pee better.

Now somewhere in the depths of the Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (the makers of Flomax) they had to ask how can we make a commercial for this wonder drug. Obviously this is something that only men can use, so you gotta have a lot of men. Also they need to be doing manly things. Things like driving a muscle car, fishing, playing golf, maybe throw a woman in the mix for good measure.

Yes, the Flomax commercial, which you can see here, features all of these elements, only they are in the most affeminate way possible.

A group of for men, supposedly all enjoying the expanded freedom that Flomax provides, are in a first-gen Ford Mustang, but it is teal colored. Hardly a manly color. Then they show two guys looking at a camera, which you can see in the screen cap above, and they appear to be gushing. Honestly, do guys gush at an image on a camera? Well, maybe if it is of their hot girlfriend in lingerie or naked.

The fishing boat scene is ok, but still not very manly. Then there is a scene with one of the guys in bed with his wife, which is so fake that even Paris Hilton could have pulled it off better. (Yes, I know mentioning Paris Hilton is a sop to the googlers out there looking for more naked pics of her. Gotta get the pageviews up somehow.)

Then more fishing, this time it’s fly fishing in a stream. I must say that some of the scenes they have in this stream feature some homosexual overtones. Almost up there with “Brokeback Mountain” there, but I digress.

Next the commercial transports you to a golf course. The men are out on the links and obviously enjoying themselves. Again more homosexual implications in the imagery.

Finally, the climax, if you will, of the commerical. The men in the mustang are back. But the two old men in the back seat don’t have a camera this time. No, they have water bottles. And, they “clink” them like men who just won a game or a big contract would beer bottles.

My god, how much more can this ad agency castrate these men?!

If I have a problem getting a good stream of pee, how would this commercial make me want to use this drug?

Use Flomax, you will be able to pee again, but your balls….well that’s a different story.

The sad thing is that this company has made a large enough media buy for this stupid commerical that it crowds out valid commercials, like those for beer and Victoria’s Secret.