Grown Ups Talking

Look at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L68aKVAzwQ4 and check out a very silly sketch from MadTV. It features the Mac iPad, a computer driven sanitary pad with “vaginal firewall protection".

Fast-forward 5 years and yesterday Steve Jobs announced the launch of the Mac iPad, “Our most advanced technology in a magical and revolutionary product at an unbelievable price.” It’s a computer that’s a book reader and a gigantic ipod that you can twiddle around with and do a bunch of things.

But that’s not the point. What were they thinking? If you watch the MadTV piss-take you see the gals plug-in in their iPads (not a salubrious sight) and dance around in silhouette with their iPads strapped on.

Silly executives, they had no women in the room when they came up with that Stupid Name.

So what else is new? We are starting off the second decade of the new century and the women are still almost never in the room for this part of the discussion. Ads, books, movies, every day culture still weighs heavily towards aiming at men.

Take American Pie, or Superbad, or Youth in Revolt, or anything by Seth Rogen or Ben Stiller. They are all a guy’s eye view of life. Hollywood’s version of a movie from a women’s point of view is Sex in the City. Which I quite liked. But while shoes are nice, they are not exactly worthy of a religion.

The point is, sexism is alive and well and creating our culture. Ideas, strategies, and creativity, are largely the purview of men, who are usually white (see The Obama Campaign Team). Somebody needs to remind them that women buy and vote and watch things too. Ahem, over half the population?

So watch iPad on YouTube and have a giggle. And maybe this will convince the powers that be that celebrating diversity is not only humane, but actually good for the economy. What better argument can there be in this great country of ours?—Pomerol

The republicans are good at doing nothing. After a year’s worth of bickering and bargaining and meeting in smoke-filled rooms, the republicans in the Senate can proudly stand back and say, hand on heart, We got nothing done this year! Woo hoo!

It’s easy to say no. Could you vote for a modified health care bill? No. Could you vote for an even more modifed health care bill? No. Would you like a doughnut? Well…

The filibuster power in the Senate is making the most successful politicians the ones that prevent anything getting done.

But even republicans acknowledge there is a problem. Health care costs are out of control, the number one cause of bankruptcies is catastrophic health bills, businesses are getting skewered by insurance costs. Turning around the Health Care Oil Tanker is difficult for anyone.

Their answer is that if we scupper enough democratic legislation, we will get in next time. Then we’ll do wonderful things.

Problem is that next time it’ll be the dems turn to Just Say No.

I’m torn.

Education is the lifeblood of society and democracy and enlightened life and so forth, not to mention a major contributor to my, Pomerol’s, employment. The various unions we educator types belong to, are stomping around saying we can’t cut education even if the economy is swirling down the drain, but any halfway sensible person can see there isn’t enough money out there.

So do I stomp along with everyone else because it only makes sense, or do I sit by the sidelines because there’s no way in the world that anyone will get anything anytime soon?

Not that my individual efforts will make a lot of difference, or so my grouchy lazy side says.

Did you notice the students demonstrating in California this afternoon? I’m amazed at how little outrage there has been about loss of livelihoods and futures. It was good to see, and probably a small taste of what’s too come.

Sigh. Guess that means I have to get out there and be outrageous.—Pomerol

When I was a young Donald Trump launched a short-lived venture into air travel. For what seemed like a couple of weeks, Trump bought a mini-airline that traveled between New York and Boston. In those days I went to Boston frequently, and I had the opportunity to fly Don Air once.

It was festooned with logos. The stewardesses wore Don Air uniforms, carried Don Air trays with Don air coffee cups and pastries formed into the face of Don. The carpet had Don Air logos woven in, the seat backs were tricked out with Don Air doo dads, and the toilet seat had engraved Don Air logos which meant you walked around with Don Air embedded into your behind for the next half hour (a fitting statement).

Fast-forward to the mayoral election, and this syndrome seems to have taken over the entire city. Mike Bloomberg is projected to have spent $100 million dollars on his mayoral candidature, according to the New York Times. He has ads in newspapers, magazines, television channels, my poor aching mailbox, internet sites, internet videos, telephone messages, celebrity endorsements. Soon he will be shining his face onto clouds á la Batman, and foaming his message into daily cappuccinos.

This is 16 times more than his opponent, Bill Thompson. Thompson has been hopelessly outgunned by an uber-rich competitor.

Is this what we have come to? Not just purchasing your elected office (see The Regency Period), but doing it publicly?

I’m not a stick-in-the-mud about these things, if Bloomberg spent 2 times as much, or even 4 times as much, you can almost shrug it off. I even think he’s done a pretty good job. But 16 times? This is practically royal entitlement. It’s obscene.

Bill Thompson seems like a good guy, he has civilized ideas about education and taxing rich people (change, but not too much change). There’s no way IN THE WORLD that he will win this election.

But apart from my lifelong reluctance to ever vote for any republican anywhere, the main reason I am going to vote for Thompson it to get on with irritating Bloomberg.—Pomerol

I did my bit last night. I went along to a “Health Care Vigil” in Central Park. This was MoveOn.org’s answer to the manic townhallers who bellow that health care reform is the devil’s work.

Frankly it was a bit tedious. Speakers got up and read aloud reports that had been sent in about individuals who have been denied hospital care, or charged exhorbitantly. And though dreary to listen to, it’s all too true.

Being denied care is a horror. One 26-year-old had a heart condition and couldn’t quite make the insurance payments, but he made too much money and didn’t qualify for Medicaid. A lot of people are stuck in this worrying limbo.

This kind of common situation creates a whole class of uneasy worriers — middle class types who have decent jobs but still can’t afford to pay for health insurance. These people will never be free of nagging worries that when sickness strikes, your whole life will go up in flames.

Unhappily, the slipper and I are fast approaching this situation. We are — knock on wood — healthy at the moment, but keeping up with insurance premiums is becoming unaffordable.

So we may soon need to rely on the Knock On Wood health plan. Hope for the best and pretend everything is OK. Many thousands of Americans are already on the KOW plan. You could call this psychosis, denial, unhealthy psychological displacement activity, and you’d be right. The next move, in the truly American way, would be to go to a shrink. But I think KOW only covers a stiff drink and a sympathetic bartender.

Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes. We need universal health care.—Pomerol