Whatever, I Do What I Want!

This is the first segment of a little piece I'd like to call...Whatever, I Do What I Want!

Today's "Whatever, I Do What I Want!" Award goes to the 264 members of the House who voted to extend the TV switchover date almost 4 months. Let's face it, this whole transition thing just came out of nowhere, didn't it? I mean, the ads have only been on the air for months. And on the radio. And in print. And the coupons, well they've only been distributed for months and months as well. It seems perfectly reasonable to me that these people who have gone almost a year doing nothing will certainly do something now that they will not be affected for another 4 months.

Supporters argue that 6.5 million households would lose TV coverage without the delay. There are those out there who have no means (money and/or time) to go buy a converter box. It is for these people I sympathize. But of the 6.5 million, I would venture a guess that the vast majority of these people are at least 1 of three things: clueless, uncaring, or procrastinators. (My girlfriend will likely tell you I am all three. She is probably correct.) The clueless don't know whats going on, the uncaring are not going to do anything anyway and are probably looking for something to complain about, and procrastinators have waited til the 11th hour. Are any of these people going to be helped/affected by pushing back the deadline? No. The clueless will still be clueless, the uncaring will still be uncaring, and we have enabled the procrastinators. The hard working leaders of the transition lose a whole lot of credit, and we'll see how seriously the transition gets taken in June when people know it could just be pushed back.

And so to those members of the House who voted for the delay, I respectfully disagree.