I find the controversy over drones to be a little skewed.  Here’s how it usually goes.  Drone strikes have increased and usually result in the deaths of innocents.  Therefore, drones use should be banned.  This assumes that either they won’t kill anybody without using drones or the other methods of death-dealing are somehow acceptable. 

A more legitimate beef may be that it is a problem that CIA is using drones, that drones should be solely a military weapon.  It’s almost like the CIA was shooting off cruise missiles.  It doesn’t sit right.  But that issue is more about what capabilities the CIA should have access to rather than whether drone use is ever justified.

I think the debate is focusing on the wrong wrong.  The tragedy is the unlawful killing, not the drone itself.  The focus is too much on the drones, and not the war.  Take away the drones and they will still find a way to kill.  They should focus the argument on the over-arching issue of war not one tool used in the war.

Now, I’m not supporting drone strikes; I’m saying that the anti-drone campaign misses the point.  Ending drone strikes won’t end the killing or the war.  The CIA and military will continue to shoot people from far away.

Another issue is using drones for surveillance.  Are the drones capable of doing something that the government can’t do already?  They’ve already got cameras watching you.  You see, there are these things called satellites. 

Instead of focusing on drones (merely a tool) demand an end to deaths and surveillance without due process. 

For now, I’m not overly concerned about drones.  Just let me know when they intend to launch unmanned vehicles with advanced artificial intelligence systems.  I’ll want to stockpile my bunker before Skynet becomes self aware.  (Oh, crap!  I just told you about the bunker.  Now the mob will be at my doorstep when TSHTF.  Forget I said anything.  There is no spoon.)

 
It’s May again and for many that means it’s “prom season.”  This year we can expect more stories about this tradition because of the growing trend of people taking their favorite celebrity to similar formal events.
 
Last year, Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis were asked to and attended the Marine Corps Ball.  Recently, headlines mentioned Jeremy Lin, Taylor Swift, and Tim Tebow were invited to proms.
 
In this situation, I can almost feel some sympathy for these famous folks.  They must get deluged with these requests, many of them attached to sad stories.  It’s harder to turn these down since more and more of your “colleagues” seem to be accepting them. 
 
I’m sure it’s much easier to turn down requests found in hate mail.  “Thank you for writing, but I will not go [blank] myself.  Here’s a photo of me.  Please keep watching and buy my book.  Enjoy.”
 
Most of the folks accepting tend to be the D-list types going not out of the goodness of their heart, but as a publicity stunt (in some cases, maybe for a free meal).  There are lots of other ways to be charitable without making a scene.  Celebrities showing up will definitely cause a headache for event organizers who themselves are often volunteering their time.  I bet this doesn’t cross their minds.  Well, in many cases not much of anything crosses their minds; perhaps the occasional tumbleweed.
 
It’s time to kill this fad.  Someone has to do a great satire of the whole thing.  Here’s an idea.  I am well beyond prom years, but my driver’s license is expiring this summer.  Should I ask a celebrity to accompany me to the DMV?  Which one would be up for mocking the whole concept?  Feel free to steal this idea.

 
Recently President Obama’s re-election campaign announced its newest slogan: “Forward.”  Huh?  It sounds like they saw the MSNBC tagline “Lean Forward” and said, “let’s tone it down a little.”
 
The campaign thought “forward” was safe and unprovacative.  However, the right had no trouble digging up ”Forward”‘s alleged link to socialism/Marxism/woo-woo-evil. The Obama campaign couldn’t see this coming?
 
I guess the thinking goes, “We can’t deliver any ‘change’ and there’s little ‘hope’ left that we can, but they can’t stop us from moving forward.  Even if we do nothing we will be moving forward into the future. They cannot stop us from entering 2013, 2014, etc., right?  Before we sign off on this, anyone know whether the Mayans were Republicans?”
 
The first time I heard about the new slogan, I instantly thought of The Simpsons’ Treehouse of Horror episode from 1996 where Senator Kang (an alien disguised as Bob Dole) delivers this speech:
 

My fellow Americans. As a young boy, I dreamed of being a baseball; but tonight I say, we must move forward, not backward; upward, not forward; and always twirling, twirling, twirling towards freedom!

 
Just for fun, let’s try to guess the alternate slogans they considered. The criteria: one-word, evoking some warm fuzzies, and must have an ‘o’ so we can stick the Obama logo in there. Here goes:

• Now – Vague, assertive, but almost too demanding. Plus, people may not be to happy with how things are ‘now.’
• Wow – Way too much enthusiasm for the results of the first term. It almost sounds ironic. It will work if you want to sell T-shirts to hipsters.
• Mom – Lots of warm fuzzies, but too easy to attack for obvious connotations of a nanny state and risks revival of yo-mama jokes.
• Hello – Nice, doesn’t promise anything. Rightwing nutjobs will say this proves you’re the antichrist because it has “hell” in it.
• Balloon -  There’s a happy thought, and it gives you a double ‘o.’  Everybody likes balloons, right?  Put that in the “maybe” pile.
• Moon -  Nice image and a double-o again.  M–O–O–N, that spells re-election.  Werewolves are still popular.  Problem is that it could encourage indecent exposure.

 
Any more suggestions?
 

 
A few days ago, I was listening to some TV news program (yes, listening, while I was doing something else at the time) and they ran an old clip of Mitt Romney giving a speech.  One phrase caught my attention: “the dignity of work.”
 
In my long experience of almost a dozen types of jobs, I can say there is a nugget of truth about a dignity in work.  On the other hand, what is more memorable are the indignities of work.  These are the things that Governor Romney probably does not know or care about (see Seamus about his notorious indifference).  These are the things working class folk have to put up with for a paycheck.
 
Romney’s “dignity of work” quote/gaffe has inspired me to try and recall some of the striking examples of the indignity of work that I have experienced.   (Please share some of your indignity stories in the comments section below.)  Today’s example is the rigid adherence to an ID for alcohol policy.
 
For two summers in my youth, I worked as a cashier in the concession stand at a minor league baseball stadium.  We had a rule that for any beer sale we had to check the ID of the customer — and they meant every customer.  Some fellow employees actually had to ask for ID from their own parents.
 
If Betty White herself walked up to you, she gets carded.  As her wrinkled, arthritic claws go digging through her giant cluttered purse on the epic quest for that tiny plastic rectangle, the line grows longer and longer with everyone becoming a little more agitated subconsciously knowing that our lives will never get back these precious wasted minutes.   Many of said people in line will be stupid jerks who will be mad at you because they think you were holding up the line just goofing off, trying to flirt with someone’s grandma.
 
The effect of this policy is that employees are required to pretend to be complete idiots.  These types of policies hit at the heart of human dignity and remind us of the concept of wage slavery.  If you are trapped in this situation I suggest this approach:   

“I’m sorry, I know you are older than 21. However, in return for my pitiful hourly wage, I am required to pretend I am an idiot and ask you for identification proving you are over 21. I must choose between my dignity and my job. It is company policy to force us both to waste our precious time for this charade.”

 
So if you are a customer clearly over 21 and someone asks you for your ID, don’t think they are trying to be nice, cute, or funny.  Don’t ever respond “I’m flattered that you think I’m young. Thanks for asking.”  Tell them, “I’m sorry they make you do this.  It is wrong to force you to pretend to be stupid.”  Then be sure to leave a good tip (where appropriate).
 
Feel free to share some of your “indignity of work” stories in the comments section below.  I promise I won’t card you.