I Don't Care Who Gets Embarrassed

As the investigation into the U.N. Oil-For-Food scandal intensifies, I can't believe how politically charged the news reporting is getting. These articles have undertones of "Take THAT, liberals. The UN that you love so much is more corrupt than Tammany Hall and that Clinton guy you've elevated to sainthood has blood on his hands." Yesterday's front-page article in the NY Post was especially atrocious, with the reporter calling Bill Clinton's pardon of Marc Rich "Pardongate" and making more references to the pardon than was probably necessary. Instead of telling us more about Rich, who he is and what he does, the reporter wasted too many paragraphs sketching out the relationship between Rich and the Clintons. And the fact that Rich allegedly did this stuff AFTER he was pardoned doesn't seem to deter the reporter from suggesting as many connections to the Clintons as possible - the pardon, the campaign gifts, etc. Let me be clear about this. I don't care whether Hillary and Bill cashed in a voucher themselves. Just find the people responsbile who benefitted illegally from Saddam's oil vouchers (whoever they may be), arrest them and bring them to trial. And recover as much of the money as possible.

Foreign government officials and rich folks in the U.S. alike profited from this situation illegally. I don't care who gets embarrassed by revelations of impropriety. Just identify the guilty parties and bring them to justice, preferably with a minimum of partisan gloating.

Home Depot's New Ad Campaign

I have a new tagline for The Home Depot. Well, maybe it's not new. In fact, it borrows from an old Lay's Potato Chip slogan: "No One Can Eat Just One." The Home Depot - Betcha Can't Go Just Once.

The task was simple. Install a new faucet in the bathroom. I've done this countless times and it's easy. (Unless you don't have all the parts you need.)

So I pull the old faucet and the sink basin is all corroded on the bottom and it's ready to go. So off to the Home Depot I go. I get a new sink and head back to the house.

Turns out the drain stem is 1 1/4" and the trap is 1 1/2". So back to the Home Depot I go. For a 99-cent washer.

Turns out the old trap is too short to reach the new drain stem. So back to the Home Depot I go. For a $1.99 length of pipe.

Turns out the new sink has no retention clips in the box. So back to the Home Dep- nah, fuck it. Everybody deal with it! I'm knocking off this gig to eat pistachio nuts and watch football.

RIP, Dime

This sucks. He will be missed.

Audiophiles Heed My Words

Last night, I reaffirmed my belief that a lot of people are probably spending waaaaay too much on high-end audio gear. If you're one of these people who absolutely has to have the top of the line gear for your home audio system, you're probably paying top dollar for equipment that produces sound only marginally better than cheaper alternatives. Over the weekend, I hooked up my surround-sound receiver/amplifier to my TV and found out that the expensive speaker system I had purchased a couple years ago was pretty much kaput - must've been knocked around too much during the move. My center channel speaker was buzzy and my two rear satellites were distorting something fierce.

So I went to Best Buy and looked around at some of the speaker systems they were selling. Many of these were over $1,000, but I decided on a speaker system from KLH that was around $150. It included six satellites and a powered subwoofer. Upon getting home and swapping out the satellites, I put Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones into my DVD player and was totally blown away by the distortion-free sound. I watched only the first 20 minutes or so, and even my Mom was impressed with the way starships seemed to streak from one end of the room to the other. It was pretty loud, but the speakers just wouldn't distort or clip or anything.

Now, what additional benefit could I have gotten if I had blown $500 or $1,000 on new speakers? Maybe the ability to blast the sound to the point that my neighbors called the cops. Maybe a premium label to impress houseguests with. Other than that, not much else.

Listen to the stuff in the stores. If it sounds good, it IS good. And forget about spending an arm and a leg to get the latest Bose Acoustimass system or whatnot. It's overkill.