News and Views

Never Underestimate the Power of Stupid People in Large Groups

Did Ya Miss Me?: We’ve been spending some time on the left coast - that place where San Andreas once said, “It’s not MY fault.” We were fortunate enough to get caught in the traffic of the U.S. Open golf tournament in which some guy from Greensburg, PA failed to Mediate a win-win against a Tiger. For one who equates the excitement of watching golf right up there with watching grass grow, the Tournament at Torrey Pines was about as exciting as golf can be. San Diego did itself proud handling the crowd of more than 300,000 who watched the series. The best post-tourney line came from Jimmy Kimmel when he asked Senator John McCain if he was rooting for the young black guy or the old white guy. Post script: The victory might have aggravated the knee of the Tiger badly enough to cause him to scrub the rest of the season.

More Sports of All Sorts: Wrapped around the Torrey Tiger golf tourney were the NBA Championship finals, Kudos to the team and staff of the Boston Celtics. The playoffs ended up being a left-coast vs. right coast battle with the world’s best player wearing #24 (Kobe). In keeping true to the Mighty Casey at the Bat poem, #24 and his team struck out and today there is no joy in Mudville (L.A.). Some sports pundits observed that #24 is no #23 (Michael Jordan). If you’re a basketball fan, you’ll understand that.

When you’re dealt lemons, make lemonade: California is often referred to as “The land of fruits and nuts.” Of course this reference generally comes from residents of states that are jealous of the eternal sunshine, beautiful people, convertibles, and silicone. But California for all its sins has a hard line cadre of right wing ultra conservative religious zealots who disdain the, shall we say, more open-minded set. Unless you live in a cave without TV you know that gay marriage has become the law of the land in the Land of Milk and Honey. A few folks waved anti-gay banners as Star Trek’s Mr. Sulu and his blushing “Party B” joined many other gays who heard wedding bells. But some more business-minded conservatives posited that the law will bring in sorely needed tourist dollars from those in the other 49 states who wish to come to West Coast Eden and become Adam and Steve.

Battle of the Candidate’s Wives: The burning question among some pundits is, “How much press should the spouses of presidential candidates receive for simply being spouses?” Republicans and conservative pundits seemed to fire the first salvo as they chastised Michelle Obama for a comment regarding pride and her country. The other team struck back in a not-so-sweet manner citing Cindy McCain’s Recipegate, in which she represented as her own a recipe that belonged to another. Oh, oh, there she goes again. July’s Family Circle magazine asked each of the then candidate’s spouses to submit a recipe. Bill Clinton offered one and credited the family cook. Michelle submitted one credited to her daughter’s godmother. “Cindy McCain’s Oatmeal-Butterscotch cookies” were attributed to a good friend. But a sharp-eyed baker soon discovered the recipe on Hersheys.com. Whoops. Something smells here. In the future perhaps Cindy should only submit beer recipes.

Drove my Chevy to the levee and got busted: Tornadoes and flooding are two good reasons not to own a home in the Midwest these days. Perhaps frustration over being kept away is a third. Homeowners were forced from their homes by authorities and not allowed to return until those same authorities determined it was safe. Some homeowners took exception. One in particular tried to drive around a barricade, his truck reportedly bumped a guard and guns were immediately trained on him. This was not some radical from the big city. This was an Iowa farmer who felt he needed to assess the damage impact on his life and livelihood. Big Brother claims he knows better. Perhaps we need to just sit back and let our government make all the decisions for us. Trust FEMA.

A little blogging music Maestro… “High Water Everywhere,” by Joe Bonamassa.

Dr. Forgot