With all due respect to my Mexican friends, neighbors, and strangers, I hate Cinco de Mayo! Like St. Patrick’s Day, I view it as another holiday that has been exploited in order to drum up sales from white people wanting to be drunk, yet trendy, and in the right spot. Forget that Cinco de Mayo’s a celebration of the Mexican army surviving in a struggle against vastly superior French forces. Getting drunk and overeating (as if we needed more encouragement) is a much, much better use of American’s time and money. I try to put on a brave face every year when getting dragged out to attend the long wait for dinner. Drink my damn margarita, eat some flour and meat combination with a festive name, and NEVER, NEVER, EVER complain about how silly I think this is. This year, if I may humbly say so, was my best year yet.

Unfortuantely, I think that tonight brought about a stark change in my overall view of life. Before a recent series of events that I’ve been to, I would think that people should be free. They should be allowed to be stupid, frivolous, rude jerks. I mean people should be free, right? I noticed some of the peculiarities to which people lend themselves to when intoxicated. If I wanted to control people, I’d give them liquor that will distract them (and make them feel miserable and unproductive the next day), food that will weaken their health, holidays that don’t require any particular reverence to celebrate, music that is filled with words, sounds, and concepts that a retarded two-year could come up with. Maybe all the time and effort spent to raise individuals up, to make people better has truly been wasted. Maybe people need to be controlled, not with outright force, but with subtle, more friendly coercive forces. Maybe the party is that friendly control. I might be getting too serious about this, but I sit and watch people become weaker spiritually and freedom slipping away from us all, and I wonder… Damn, if only I had a few more drinks.

Anyway, that’s all I’ll write. I could go on, and into more detail. It won’t bring out the best in me to dwell on the remainder of the evening. The melatonin is starting to kick in just at the right time. Joy — tonight I will sleep…

I had the opportunity to attend the local Raleigh, North Carolina “tea party” protest during a break in my busy schedule. While I am highly supportive of smaller government, less taxes, fiscal responsibility, and all that jazz, I was more interested in seeing what level of turn-out there really was (without the possibility of any inaccuracies in counts provided by the local or national media). A lot of people there had the right idea — doing something practical to make a real change. A few folks, though were a bit mislead. The most was a person who screamed something to the effect of “Thank God for Fox News!” at the end of the event. For this person, I recommend watching the following video, Outfoxed, with an open mind: 

In addition to the claims brought up by this documentary, I could mention others that have rubbed me the wrong way in the past. 

I know a lot of people will find something offensive about “Outfoxed.” I know, since I’ve been told that I hate America, spit on veterans, and that I am a secret member of the left-wing because I believe in getting to the truth of the matter rather than walking a party line or taking the easy way out by blindly accepting things based on appearances alone. And, more often than not, those making these ridicuouls claims were “informed” by hours-upon-hours of watching Fox News.

Anyway, there’s no requirement that people be open-minded, feel comfortable enough with their own deeply-held beliefs to question their own assumptions, etc. Apparently, a lot of folks who’ve drank the Fox Kool-Aid claim Fox News and their associated properties to be an “alternative” media outlet. Just remember, news is a biz and the goal of businesses is profit. Moreso now-a-days, news is becoming wrapped in slick marketing and public relations techniques specifically designed to drive you to a particular point-of-view.

But if it makes you feel better, you can believe whatever you want to believe. Who am I to change your reality? Hmmm, but then again, who is Fox News, and who are they to change your reality?

H/T: Daily Paul

I’m not a big fan of the word “throwback.” This is most likely because it sounds too much like “blowback” which denotes negative unintended consequences of military and covert intelligence operations. While that’s offensive to my libertarian soul, I’m also offended every time my favorite football team puts on their God-awful old “throwback” uniforms from fifty or sixty years ago. I mean, let the old uniforms die already…

I’ve had the opportunity over the last couple of days to sample another throwback — Mountain Dew Throwback. It’s part of a new set of product offerings from Pepsi that is sweetened with sugar instead of the much-maligned high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). And the new advertising campaign just happens to have an accompanying psychadelic commercial (like this one for Pepsi Throwback):

I’m not sure what the primary driver for such an offering is. High fructose corn syrup has been criticized for everything from being contaminated with mercury to spearheading the march toward a global obesity epidemic. That, and I’m sure Pepsi is looking to go for a younger, hipper demographic that is drawn to all-natural teas and sodas made from real cane sugar (such as the popular Jones Soda line).

As far as the experience of Mountain Dew Throwback goes, I’m still skeptical. Recently, I switched from years of being a Coke fanboy to Pepsi Max loyalty due to my desire to have a soft drink with some kick (thanks to Max’s ginseng content) and the desire to avoid highly-caloric sweeteners such as sugar and high fructose corn syrup. Ultimately, I wanted two just try a two-liter, but the only option at the Garner, North Carolina Target was a twelve pack of cans. The Pepsi Throwback packaging looked like something that was throwback, but it immediately occurred to me that there was only a slight difference in the sugar and HFCS Mountain Dew version’s packaging, which I suspect will result in some confusion from consumers. Taste was different, almost like caffeine-free Mountain Dew. I’m not sure this difference would be discernable to a frequent Mountain Dew drinker, but I did notice a slight difference. Again, with packaging similarities, some loyal Mountain Dewist in a rush might be in for a treat. Well, not really a treat, but a surprise none-the-less.

Will it be a hit? Maybe. I don’t know if “Throwback” is the right name, nor do I know that sugar vs. high fructose corn syrup makes a difference to enough people to make it profitable for Pepsi to continue beyond their “limited time only” promises. But if you’re into the latest, greatest gimmick by the soft drink industry big-wigs, try it out for youself and weigh-in here. There should be some sales at your local big-box retailers and grocery chains, for at least a week. I’d love to hear what everyone else is thinking about Pepsi Throwback and Mountain Dew Throwback.