Dumbing Down America - Redux

Okay, so many of you know that I am boycotting McDonalds because of their Olympic sponsorship. It is not that I am against the Olympics, I do support and wish our athletes much luck. What I don't support is that China was given these Olympics with their abysmal human rights record. It appears that the IOC felt the need to appease China. Well, they did in the same back in 1936 with Hitler's Germany and look how well that turned out.
However, this isn't about the Olympics. It is about corporations buying into the notion that we are just dumb Americans who will believe whatever is laid out before them. If I wasn't all ready boycotting McDonalds, I would certainly stop going after their latest attack at the intelligence of the American people. Have you seen the new commercial? The commercial shows a number of different people screwing up breakfast. Whether it is burnt toast, or the woman who goes to flip a pancake and it lands on the burner and then while it sits on the burner she is spraying something on the sausage. They end this montage of human ineptitude by telling us to leave making breakfast to the professionals. Um, okay, so McDonalds has somehow transformed itself into professional breakfast makers? Um, did Wolfgang Puck or Emeril suddenly show up at McDonalds? Hey, it is an egg muffin. Not hard, buy some of those rings to get them perfectly round. An English Muffin, some Canadian bacon, and cheese, voila! Not rocket science and my kids can do it.
The other thing that is getting me is the car manufacturers. Maybe they are missing the picture but the recent burst of ads are touting, not higher mileage, but more distance on a tank of gas. So let me see, if you put a bigger gas tank in the car, you can increase the distance I can go, but now it costs $100 to fill the tank instead of $60. Maybe a little exaggeration there but it is amazing that they think no one would notice that it is still getting the same MPGs, it just has a bigger tank!
On the political front, oh boy, are the Republicans desperate? It just seems like they are shooting themselves in the foot left and right. I am an independent myself, and hold no allegiance, but when you are getting caught in lie after lie or having to rely on negative messages, then you lost my vote. Take the billboard in Orange County, Florida. It has a picture of the twin towers smoking with the message, Please Don't Vote for a Democrat. Then there is the New Yorker front page with Obama and his wife as terrorists. They claim that it was just a satire, but it is something we don't need. Oh, and please don't forward that stupid message about Obama being Muslim and wanting to change the country to Islam. Dang, didn't we just go through the whole thing with his pastor? Can't people put two and two together. Hmm, pastor, Christian. Of course there are the recent ads against Obama by McCain's camp that FactCheck.org has said are outright lies. You can read their full article at http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/the_32000_question.html
Oh, Obama has been no angel and has stretched the truth a bit, but it just seems that McCain is going over the top. When will the candidates begin to respect our intelligence and stay on issues and discuss them intelligently and try to find answers rather than go straight for the mudslinging? It just seems that every year, the American people ask for clean elections. The candidates appear to go that direction, but then bam, out comes the mud.
The other thing is these emails. Anybody can write an email and make up things and the next thing you know they take on a life on their own. A new one is going around about Obama and taxes. Fact Check responded:

Q: Would Obama tax my profits if I sell my home? Would he tax my IRA? Would he tax my water?
A: No. A new e-mail being circulated about Obama's tax proposals is almost entirely false.

So please, if you get those emails saying Obama is going to tax you into the poor house, Obama is a Muslim and is going to turn America into an Islamic nation, Obama is the anti-christ, then hit the delete button. Do not forward that crap to others. Do the same if you get anything for McCain like that. Let's show them that we are intelligent and are not going to fall for this stuff anymore.
Just had to get that off my chest. Sorry, if I offended anyone.