7 thoughts on “Cui Bono?”

  1. There was a Utube of a woman at an O rally who was saying that Obama was going to pay her heating bill. This was roundly laughed at by the punditry. As it turns out, if Obama gets his “tax reduction” in, that’s exactly what will happen.

    I don’t see where paying for the digital switchover is much different. Just another instance of throwing coins into the worshiping mob.

  2. This delays several companies that were going to use those frequencies for wireless networks. Companies that already have such networks, like ClearWire, lobbied hard for this.

  3. Companies that already have such networks, like ClearWire, lobbied hard for this.

    And one of those former lobbyists is a member of Obama’s staff (despite his pledge not to hire lobbyists).

  4. The government is treating people like they are children. And those who couldn’t get their act together for the 10 minutes it would take to run to the store and buy a converter box seem unlikely to get it done by June either.

  5. I dunno, Rand, you’re assuming that the people whose constituency is idiots actually care about the idiots, at least after they’ve cast their vote. What makes you so generous?

    I’m going with Raoul’s explanation, which I’ve heard elsewhere. After all, this is the “most ethical Administration ever.” Anytime I hear someone make a claim like that, I’m pretty sure they’ve got serious corruption to hide.

  6. Its more than just people not understanding that they need a converter box.

    It is because digital signals don’t handle attenuation as well as analog signals. With analog the weaker the signal the more interference comes through but you can still see the signal through the interference.

    With digital if too much jitter disrupts the flow of 1’s and 0’s then you just don’t get anything at all.

    So, a lot of areas where people have gotten the digital boxes already are finding that they don’t get as many channels as they did with analog using a simple set of rabbit ears on their set top. Now, they have to go out and buy an expensive aerial antennae with preamp just to boost the signal enough for the digital converter.

    For all the hassle they might as well sign up for satellite or cable TV.

    They should have just left well enough alone IMO.

  7. There’s an easy solution to all this: throw away your TV (or just use it for DVDs and VHSs). I watch NetFlix on my computer and that’s more than adequate.

    I’m reminded of a political-ish cartoon I saw once. Someone was quoting Marx to the effect that “religion is the opiate of the masses”. A nearby television was thinking “Marx hadn’t seen anything yet!”.

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