Why does Monday always sneak up on me?

This week is not much different, except that I’m extremely happy to be starting out a new week after getting locked out of my car, spending loads of time on a perfect job application for a position that was filled anyways, and almost running out of gas on the freeway. This week just has to be better than the last!

Anyhow, I figure some politics, gigantic iPhones, and a great song from an awesome Denver band will make for an excellent start to the week.

P.S. It’s my kid brother‘s birthday. Go say hi to him.

.

Frank Rich (from nytimes.com)

MUST READ

Turns out I wasn’t the only person who compared the post-HCR victory threats on Democratic lawmakers to der Kristallnacht; New York Times columnist Frank Rich echoed such comparisons as he described the violent, ‘pitchfork’ mentality exhibited by opponents of health care reform.

How curious that a mob fond of likening President Obama to Hitler knows so little about history that it doesn’t recognize its own small-scale mimicry of Kristallnacht. The weapon of choice for vigilante violence at Congressional offices has been a brick hurled through a window. So far.

According to Rich, these sentiments are not actually about the health care bill itself — instead, it’s a sign that the Right is afraid of change. I’m inclined to agree with his perspective; Rich notes that the outrage over the health care bill is disproportionate compared to the actual terms of the bill, much of which has been amended to be more cooperative with Republican opponents and some of which even follows the structure of GOP-sponsored legislation.

I don’t disagree with Rich on this point. I really do feel that the incendiary attacks on Democrats are not really about health care itself; for one, many Americans don’t seem to actually understand the bill (it’s not socialism!), and two,  the lack of articulation expressed by many opponents have me inclined to believe that the inability to argue points with reason means that opponents just don’t have solid, legitimate reasons to argue the bill.

Anyhow, regardless of your stance on this, it’s an interesting read.

.

credit: Jessica Dolcourt/CNET

MUST SEE

If you’re into iPhones, this is quite nearly a dream come true: Del Mar startup MeLLmo has managed to supersize the iPhone to demonstrate its Roambi business intelligence app.

For those of us who love our iPhones, what could be better than a gigantic iPhones? (That’s actually a pretty rhetorical question.) I mean… for those of us who love our iPhones, what could be better — besides actually being able to get decent coverage from a particular, cough, provider — than a gigantic iPhone?

By the way, yes — this is nearly a fully-functioning iPhone, with just about everything going for it besides the snap-zoom function. Because I’m a cool kid and know people, I have to say that I’m uncertain how this didn’t hit techie news sites or blogs before this mention. I hope I’ll get to see one of these someday, because I’m also aware of other gigantic iPhone out there. In fact, somebody made an iPhone costume once before — but unlike MeLLmo’s version, it looks like they have to be operated through the phone itself.

.

MUST HEAR

My friend John Common has a band called Blinding Flashes of Light, and in January they released a new album entitled Beautiful Empty for the enjoyment of the masses. My favorite track from the album is “Don’t Follow Virginia,” and I have it here for your listening pleasure. I highly suggest two things: 1) visiting John’s site and downloading the entire album, and 2) following John on Twitter (@johncommon) for a daily dose of random musings and occasional hilarity.