mid-2004 miscellany

Two interesting TV advertisements - 7/13, 10:21 PM:  Timing and messages in advertisements continue to decline, as shown by two TV ads this week:
 
  • K-Mart is running an ad this week for 25% off on their "Martha Stewart Everyday Living" line.  Now, if they really wanted to attract attention, they could add an extra percent off based on the number of months she's sentenced to on Friday (sentencing scheduled for 7/16/04).  If she gets 18 months, heck, make it 43% off!
  • Citibank is running a "thank you" ad campaign.  This is to promote their latest customer loyalty scheme, which apparently is called "thank you".  The ads, however, have people saying "thank you" to change the subject and distract other people from what's really going on; it implies to me that Citibank's going to pull a fast one on their customers while saying "thank you" with a free subscription to Field and Stream, or some such.
 

What is the 'economy', anyway? - 6/26, 12:38 PM: The President of the United States keeps claiming that the 'economy' is improving.  This, despite slow jobs growth and near-stagnant wages.  Robert Kuttner, in the July 5th issue of Business Week magazine, writes in part:

One startling indicator of the recovery's limited economic growth impact is the proportion of economic growth going to profits and to wages.  Corporate profits have increased by more than 50% during this recovery, compared with just 0.8% in wage increases, according to Economic Policy Institute calculations based on Commerce Dept. statistics.

So, if profits are increasing sharply, but wage improvements are two orders of magnitude below that of profits, what is this "economy" that's improving?

The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary has a myriad of definitions for the word "economy".  Based on included quotes such as "It seems that statesmen can do nothing right when the economy is going wrong" (A.J.P. Taylor), the OED definition that best fits "economy" in the sense that "the economy is improving would be:

The organization or ordered state of a community or nation as regards its (especially material) resources and concerns; the (economic) condition of a State etc. [M17]

So, if the President says that the "economy" is improving, and one takes him at his word, it is obviously the opinion of the President of the United States that the ordered state of material resources in the US should flow almost entirely towards investors, leaving workers with a pittance.  

 
The "Sanctity" of Marriage - 6/16, 5:19 PM: In an effort to restore the "sanctity" of marriage, the Congress of the United States is considering a constitutional amendment, viz.:
 

Marriage in the United States shall consist only of the union of a man and a woman. Neither this Constitution, nor the Constitution of any State, nor State or Federal law, shall be construed to require that marital status or the legal incidents thereof be conferred upon unmarried couples or groups.

If they're really interested in restoring the "sanctity" of a social institution that has a fifty-percent failure rate, perhaps they should consider the following rewording to remove the failure problem:

Marriage in the United States shall consist only of the lifelong union of a man and a woman. Neither this Constitution, nor the Constitution of any State, nor State or Federal law, shall be construed to require that marital status or the legal incidents thereof be conferred upon unmarried couples or groups, nor construed to permit that a marital status may ever be terminated other than by death of one of the parties.

That is, if they're really interested in the sanctity of marriage, rather than imposing conservative Judaeo-Christian religious bigotry against those American citizens who happen to be gay.
 
Illinois Legislature: Stupid Laws R They - 6/3, 10:59 PM:  In response to the death of a minor caused by the ingestion of Dextromethorphan Hydrobromide, which said minor obtained from an 18-year old, the State of Illinois is considering a law to "see minors' access to dextromethorphan limited."  It seems to me that if a law already exists that they're prosecuting the 18-year old under, it approaches the height of stupidity to try to pass a law which wouldn't have stopped this occurrence anyway.  Just another step towards total governmental control of all people, masquerading as a measure for the protection of minors.
 
Taking a page from Bush's playbook - 5/30, 11:04 PM:  Miller Brewing is running a cutesy advertising campaign targeted at Anheuser-Busch, declaring their suds to be the "President of Beers".  Once that didn't work, they took it to court.  Who knows, maybe they get to be President that way too.
 
At least the US got something out of it - 5/30, 9:35 PM:  After conducting a war that re-energized Al-Qaeda and causing thousands of deaths, including more than 600 American soldiers, at least Bush has a war trophy to show for it.