It’s a dangerous world we live in, with disasters both natural and unnatural occurring all the time. At the heart of many in the latter category are the absence of logic, common sense or decency. Several news items today illustrate the point, and we’ve hit the trifecta - - no logic, no common sense, no […]
Former United States Senator and Democratic candidate for Vice President in 2004 John Edwards has become the most recent fellow caught in one of the oldest and most common predicaments among men. Joe America wouldn’t see his name in the news, print or screen, for such an indiscretion, but then again, Joe didn’t aspire to […]
Cats and dogs, oil and water, celebrities and politicians. It had seemed like everyone agreed these things don’t, or at least shouldn’t, mix well. You think you know something, and the next thing you know, you don’t.
Presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain thought he was being cute when with the merest whiff of a suggestion […]
Politics is politics, and sports is sports, but when you think about it for a moment, they do have a lot in common. Both are games, for instance. Both are based upon competition, with winners and losers. In sports, the objective is to destroy and humiliate the opponent using whatever means are at your disposal, […]
It is true in presidential politics the devil is always in the details, but sometimes it’s necessary and prudent to step back to see the entire board and not just the little square that happens to be you. It can be a sobering experience, or at least it can help restore reality even if for […]
In March of this year, Senator John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, traveled to Europe and the Middle East, attempting in doing so to appear more “presidential” than the then-primary embattled Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Recently, he took his tour to Latin America, acting very presidential in the process once again.
His staff […]
The city of Duncanville, Texas, has been battling a local scourge for almost two years now, enacting ordinances and instituting law suites in an effort to rid a neighborhood of what it considers a nuisance. The scourge, you ask? A “notorious swinger’s club” known as The Cherry Pit.
The Duncanville police executed a search warrant last […]
Social Observations Comments (0)
Sometimes it is with the very best and most innocent of intentions that the most moronic things happen in this world. And it’s not just the average Jacks of the world that come up with brain dead schemes, especially when it comes to marketing.
We’ve heard so many stories of the inadvertent faux pas caused by the differences in language and culture, and the translation goofs by advertising geniuses. Here are just a couple for your amusement, including one from today’s news:
♦ We all know the Colonel here in the States, and the goodness that is Kentucky Fried Chicken. Mashed potatoes, cole slaw, biscuits and fried chicken are close to divine. Seems “finger licking good” doesn’t travel well, though, or translate smoothly into the Chinese market, where the slogan came out as “eat your fingers off.”
♦ How about Coke? Well, not so good there, either. The Chinese translation initially went with “ke-kou-ke-la” because when spoken in Chinese it sounded close to “coca cola.” However, Coke was a little embarassed to learn that the phrase means “bite the wax tadpole.” They learned this, too, after printing thousands of signs.
Chagrined, but with a market the size of China to pursue, Coke persevered. After reviewing tens of thousands of Chinese characters, it came up with “ko-kou-ko-le.” This translated better into “happiness in the mouth.”
Today’s news brought us another story of advertising misjudgment. This time, it’s from Disney, a company with a certain image to uphold and maintain, one that supports clean and family-friendly entertainment and amusement. Those of my age bracket remember growing up in the ’50s and ’60s to the Disney show every Sunday night, and the Mickey Mouse Club show every afternoon at 3:00. We also, those of us men, remember the crushes we all had on Annette on the Mickey Mouse Club show. These shows were certainly family- and kid-friendly.
Well, someone at Disney came up with a new branded product, a line of panties for young girls. The panties were themed for a swimming pool scene from the Disney Channel hit movie,”High School Musical 2.” Sounds okay so far. The scene from the show that was depicted on the panties involved the main characters singing of their love for each other as they circled a swimming pool. Again, sounds okay so far.
The problem was with the text on the panties, which invited the reader to “Dive In.” Oops. The news does not report the fate of the person who came up with this idea, or the higher ups who gave the green light to the product.
Thankfully, though, they were not the same people who managed the Coke campaign in China. Imagine if the panties read “bite the wax tadpole,” or “happiness in the mouth.”
Let’s think things through, people. The best of intentions are not always enough.
Harrison @ August 18, 2008
Political Commentary Comments (0)
The vote in this year’s election is for President of the United States. Our constitution is clear about the executive branch of government, and in that clarity refers to the person as President. Not pastor, not priest, not handicapper general. President.
Our constitution, in the 26th Amendment, also requires voters to be of a certain age, what often is referred to as the age of majority. In other words, you must be old enough to be presumed a grown up in order to vote in federal and state elections.
Presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama are scheduled to appear together Saturday at a minister-moderated forum held in a church as thousands of evangelicals plan to gather in Washington, D.C. to pressure both candidates to move further to the right on social issues such as same sex marriage and abortion rights. Each candidate has taken his turn dealing with pastor-related controversies this year, and each has come under attack by various members of the evangelical right.
They are running for President, though, not pastor or priest or handicapper general. Yes, of course, each voter in the country is entitled to their own views on religion and society, and the right to determine their own core life values. The evangelical right, though, wants the country’s core life values to be theirs, and that is the rub. While the Constitution establishes only three requirements to be President of the United States - - have been born here, have been born more than 35 years ago, and get more electoral votes than any other candidate - - the evangelical right wishes to impose a few of its own requirements.
Each candidate has taken a different tact with respect to religion and religious beliefs. Obama has willingly discussed his Christian faith, and has ambitiously sought out the religious vote by initiating meetings with pastors and going after young evangelicals. A political action group called “Matthew 25 Network” was formed in June hoping to reach out to Christians on Obama’s behalf. Matthew 25, for those who aren’t Biblical scholars, includes the “ten virgins” parable, and the line “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.”
In contrast, McCain has kept his religion and religious beliefs basically to himself. Although raised an Episcapalian, McCain now identifies himself as Baptist. “I’m unashamed and unembarrassed about my deep faith in God. But I do not obviously try to impose my views on others,” McCain said earlier in the year.
It is interesting to note that Obama, who wears his Christian faith on his shirtsleeve and is the more freely talkative of the two candidates on religion, is trailing McCain in polls of the evangelical right. A CNN commissioned poll in June showed McCain receiving about 65% of the white evangelical voters surveyed, while only 30% supported Obama. By comparison, Mr. Happy received the support of 78 percent of evangelical voters in the 2004 presidential election.
There’s a lot more going on politically than the religious vote in this election, to be sure. The economy, the wars, social security, oil and energy, and so much more dominate the news and our greatest fears daily, and one’s religious beliefs have nothing to do with any of them. For instance, what is the religious solution to the economic woes we are suffering through each day? The religious solution to energy costs and the price of oil per barrel? The religious solution to social security’s insecurity?
We’re voting for President in November, and let’s keep it to that. Not pastor, not priest, not handicapper general. Let’s be grownups when it comes time to vote, grownups who are capable of choosing core life values for ourselves rather than having them chosen for us.
The wisest comment so far on the issue came from McCain . . . . “But I do not obviously try to impose my views on others.” We should vote as wisely.
Harrison @ August 14, 2008