Archive for January, 2009
This is how Pro-Life should move forward
Check out this pro-life ad from CatholicVote.com. This is far more compelling than enlarged photos of dead baby fetuses plastered on the side of trucks.
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2CaBR3z85c&e]
I heard on the radio this morning that Pro-Life groups are preparing to increase their communication efforts now that President Obama is in office. While I understand and appreciate their motivation, I hope that the discourse can move forward along these lines instead of resorting to the harmful, hateful tactics that are typically employed.
“I’ll go ahead and sign you up”" rel="bookmark">“I’ll go ahead and sign you up”
The other night, I was sitting at home, getting amped for the Lost season premiere. I saw “American Media” pop up on the bottom of the screen, on Cox Cable’s new TV-caller ID service (which DirecTV had years ago). This wasn’t the first time it had done that, so I decided to go ahead and answer it this time. Below is an almost accurate transcript of our phone call.
American Media: Todd Ramsey?
Me: Yes, this is Todd.
AM: Hello, I’m calling about your Men’s Fitness subscription renewal. (NOTE: Yes, I do get Men’s Fitness. No, it hasn’t greatly impacted my abs, diet or exercise routines.) I want to let you know about our 86% discount off of the cover price.
Me: Oh, I’m not interested in renewing the subscription this year. Thanks.
AM: Oh really? That surprises me, because you’ve been such a valued customer (I haven’t). And this is such a great deal (it wasn’t). But since you’re such a valued customer, I’m going to go ahead and get you signed up for a year’s subscription.
Me: No, I don’t want the subscription. I just said that.
AM: Oh, really? Well, thank you for being a valued custo–
Me: Click. (I didn’t say “click,” I hung up the phone. And I didn’t really hang it up, I just pressed “Talk,” so it was more like “Beep.”
I wonder how many times that sales “tactic” – doing the exact opposite of what a customer asks – has worked?
American Media, if you read the Internets, and you stumble across my blog, you’re going to have to give me some* free subscriptions before I’ll ever consider answering the phone when you call again. Seriously.
*“Some” is greater than or equal to three free subscriptions.
The man who said “no”
On Christmas day, Hayley and I went to see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. As it was opening day, the theater was very crowded. Hayley and I got to the theater about 45 minutes early, as we knew this would be the case. We weren’t alone. There was already a line to get into the theater when we got there.
Unfortunately, not everyone was as conscious of how popular this movie would be, and arrived about 10 minutes before the movie was scheduled to start. By that time, there were very few available seats in large groups. Most were single seats. In an effort to be a “hero” some guy on our row asked Hayley and me to move down a seat, just in case there was a couple that came in. We were bugged, but we moved. Because we’re good people and all.
Then, the unbelievable happened. A woman needed a group of like four seats and asked a man on the row in front of us if he could please scoot down. He said, “No.”
I’ve seen a lot of movies in my day and I’ve been asked to move to numerous times. But I’ve never had the gumption to actually say no, no matter how annoyed I was.
This selfish act hasn’t inspired, nor will it direct, my future decisions to not move, but I will always remember this nameless man and the stand he took against the folks who are more selfish, who think they can get to the movie five minutes early and still sit together.
As for Benjamin Button, it was fine, but not as memorable as the stand that man took.
What acts of selfish courage have you witnessed recently?
“We are One” Prayer" rel="bookmark">“We are One” Prayer
There’s some controversy surrounding why this prayer was omitted from the “We are One” broadcast, but I thought it was worthy of posting.
[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWWAnitUCw4&e]
O God of our many understandings, we pray that you will…
Bless us with tears — tears for a world in which over a billion people exist on less than a dollar a day, where young women in many lands are beaten and raped for wanting an education, and thousands die daily from malnutrition, malaria, and AIDS.
Bless this nation with anger — anger at discrimination, at home and abroad, against refugees and immigrants, women, people of color, gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.
Bless us with discomfort — at the easy, simplistic “answers” we’ve preferred to hear from our politicians, instead of the truth, about ourselves and our world, which we need to face if we are going to rise to the challenges of the future.
Bless us with patience — and the knowledge that none of what ails us will be “fixed” anytime soon, and the understanding that our new president is a human being, not a messiah.
Bless us with humility — open to understanding that our own needs as a nation must always be balanced with those of the world.
Bless us with freedom from mere tolerance — replacing it with a genuine respect and warm embrace of our differences
.Bless us with compassion and generosity — remembering that every religion’s God judges us by the way we care for the most vulnerable
.And God, we give you thanks for your child Barack, as he assumes the office of President of the United States.
Give him wisdom beyond his years. Inspire him with Lincoln’s reconciling leadership style, President Kennedy’s ability to enlist our best efforts, and Dr. King’s dream of a nation for ALL people.
Give him a quiet heart, for our Ship of State needs a steady, calm captain in these times.
Give him stirring words. We will need to be inspired and motivated to make the personal and common sacrifices necessary to facing the challenges ahead.
Make him color-blind, reminding him of his own words that under his leadership, there will be neither red nor blue states, but the United States.
Help him remember his own oppression as a minority, drawing on that experience of discrimination, that he might seek to change the lives of those who are still its victims.
Give him strength to find family time and privacy, and help him remember that even though he is president, a father only gets one shot at his daughters’ childhoods.
And please, God, keep him safe. We know we ask too much of our presidents, and we’re asking FAR too much of this one. We
implore you, O good and great God, to keep him safe. Hold him in the palm of your hand — that he might do the work we have called him to do, that he might find joy in this impossible calling, and that in the end, he might lead us as a nation to a place of integrity, prosperity and peace.AMEN.
Regardless of how we may feel about Obama’s presidency, I hope that we can echo this prayer.
Strange Dream
Last night I had the strangest dream that I’ve ever remembered.
I was in a movie starring Robert Downey Jr., Bill Murray and Dave Coulier’s wife. I’m not sure what the overall story arc was, but the dream started as we were being briefed on the need to kill Dave Coulier. We were the good guys. Coulier was bad. He had betrayed and killed a number of people. Coulier wasn’t playing a character in this movie, he was playing himself.
We arrived at Dave Coulier’s house. It was me and Robert Downey Jr.‘s character from Tropic Thunder. But he was white. We knocked on the door and Dave’s son opened the door. We asked for Dave and went into the house.
Dave’s wife said that Dave was away, but that we could wait. So we waited.
There was an awkward silence, so to break it, I commented that I loved Full House. She thanked me, and then told me about an unaired episode the government blocked about a true alien abduction and murder. She claimed that it was a little too real for the U.S. Government’s comfort.
Then, a priest with a strawberry blonde afro came out –
it was Bill Murray. At that point it was just Downey and Murray, and somehow Downey got hooked up to an IV. Bill Murray inserted a chemical into Downey’s IV, making him dizzy and sleepy. Downey was wearing black rubber gloves, and he tried to take them off with his mouth, but they ripped, and his mouth was filled with black rubber. But he was too weak to spit it all out.
He began internally chanting, “Focus on the priest. Focus on the priest. Focus on the priest.” Then Murray, whom I assume was working for Coulier, had a change of heart and gave Downey the antidote and told him, “You have to kill Coulier.”
Then I woke up.
So, to all my psychoanalyst and dream interpreting friends, what in the world does this mean?!
NOTE: It should be added that I love Dave Coulier. I think he’s genuinely nice and funny, as seen on The Surreal Life.
Drumdog Millionaire
I loved Slumdog Millionaire. It was brilliant. You should see it.
But you should also see this. What it lacks in substance it makes up in poignancy.
Have a great weekend everyone.