A Closed Mind is a Good Thing to Lose
Where no man has gone for days: “Into the air junior birdman.” So starts a spoof of the Air Force anthem. However these days if you are scheduled to fly American Airlines you will be more like the line from the musical Cats, “.... they sit and sit and sit and sit, and that’s what makes a Gumby cat.” The airline has made scores of travelers, well, un-American. Now I’m no mechanic, nor do I play one on TV, but somehow I am unable to understand why putting plastic ties around a strand of wires and spacing them 1 1/4” apart makes the airplane less safe than if they are spaced 1” apart. Next they will probably turn first class into no class. Oh, sorry, they already did.
How could that have happened: In what must have been a moment of brain lapse the Senate actually did something that seems to be of benefit. The housing crisis has been bungled (Don’t even mention Katrina, or Mission Accomplished) but the squabbling children from both sides of the aisle actually got together and passed a bill 84-12 that is designed to help... Of course the help will go primarily to businesses and not people losing their homes to foreclosure. But it is a start. Those who buy foreclosed homes will get a $ 7,000 tax credit and homebuilders will get tax breaks. $ 4 billion in grants will be available for communities to buy and fix up abandoned homes. Now the House has its turn to attack the bill.
1,2,3 the problem is not me: What goes up is not American Airlines MD 80s. The airline for the third day cancelled flights – more than 900 by some counts, stranding another 100,000+ passengers. Of course the airlines blame the FAA and the FAA says, “What, me worry?” It is a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, especially inside terminals in Dallas, Chicago, New York, Florida, California, etc. Alaska and Midwest joined in canceling up to a dozen flights each. Sounds like the FAA who ordered the inspections, not for safety but to verify “technical compliance” are the ones who (mis)handled Katrina. I’m waiting for a high government to come out and say, “Brownie’s doing a heck of a job.”
The Devil probably did it: New hail storms and twisters have pounded Arkansas and surrounding states. Homes were damaged, roads flooded, and thousands were without power. It hasn’t happened yet but I’d not be surprised if some religious zealot said it was God’s punishment for Arkansas sending two presidential candidates – one from each party – to Washington.
Getting slapped silly: By now everybody who has a digital TV set (since they are the only ones that work now) has seen the videotape of girls gone wild, free-for-all boxing division. The eight Florida teens, six powder-puff and two hombres ages 14-18 will all be tried as adults. Charges could include kidnapping. The irony is that the idiots taped the beating to show the world on You-tube. They got their wish for notoriety. One was to have said, “I guess we’ll miss spring break.”
A little blogging music Maestro… Nancy Sinatra’s “Something Stupid.”
Dr. Forgot
Showing posts with label Violence. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Violence. Show all posts
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Silly Sweets and Guns
43% of All Statistics Are Made Up
Kiss kiss, bang bang: A rash of shootings has brought Las Vegas into the spotlight recently. For more than a decade local media boasted that between 5,000 and 6,000 people moved to the Valley of the Dollars each month. But nobody seemed to take notice that all the incoming Vegans were not doctors, lawyers and casino executives. Many were second chance people who had issues with theft, drugs, rock and roll, and violence. Gang members from the streets of other large metropolitan areas moved with the flow and as local population topped two million, big city problems became part of the new Las Vegas.
The gun violence is not unique to the Valley. Bucolic campuses in Virginia and Illinois have been hit with gun violence. Yet spineless politicians continue to pander to the gun lobbies while the proliferation of weapons continues. Said lobbyists are so frightened on both sides of the aisle that despite the gun violence wreaked on the American public, nary a word of solving the problem has passed the lips of any candidate. Until Americans grow a spine the violence will continue.
Hershey, Utah? Probably the best know name associated with Utah is Senator Orrin Hatch. But the state that gave us crickets, BYU, and a basketball team named the Jazz has cut a sweet deal with chocolate company Hershey. America’s largest manufacturer of chocolate and other sweets announced recently that it will accept an incentive from Utah and build a distribution center in Ogden, just north of the City of Salt. To date Ogden was best known as the home of Weber State University.
What good can possibly come of such a move? Will Reese’s Pieces become Tabernacle Tidbits? Will Hershey’s Kisses become Brigham’s Busses? Will the Great Salt Lake be renamed Sugar Central? Possibilities are endless.
Demos look like dummies: Say what you will about the Democratic presidential nomination race. It is colorful (no pun intended), offers two strong candidates running neck and neck, and well organized. Well, maybe not so well organized in the Silver State. Dems had a convention last weekend and rented a room at Bally’s that could hold up to 5,000. Problem was more than 10,000 showed up. I suppose that is better than holding a convention where nobody came, but not by much.
Perhaps the parties should share leadership. The Republican frontrunner, Sen. John McCain is a military man from Arizona. He could have given the Democrats some sound advice on organization. Instead this fiasco reeked of “Ready, fire, aim.”
Turban Warfare: Did Hillary’s campaign leak a picture of Barack wearing an African turban to the news media? If so (or if not), this is a story because? Who cares? At the risk of being accused of plagiarism of one of Senator Obama’s lines, this is the silly season in politics. Dump the minutia. On with the substantive stuff – like Hillary ditching that yellow blazer or Barack taking notes, or whether or not John made googley eyes at a female lobbyist.
A little blogging music maestro… a silly song for the silly season: “You Can’t Roller Skate in a Buffalo Herd,” by Roger Miller.
Dr. Forgot
Kiss kiss, bang bang: A rash of shootings has brought Las Vegas into the spotlight recently. For more than a decade local media boasted that between 5,000 and 6,000 people moved to the Valley of the Dollars each month. But nobody seemed to take notice that all the incoming Vegans were not doctors, lawyers and casino executives. Many were second chance people who had issues with theft, drugs, rock and roll, and violence. Gang members from the streets of other large metropolitan areas moved with the flow and as local population topped two million, big city problems became part of the new Las Vegas.
The gun violence is not unique to the Valley. Bucolic campuses in Virginia and Illinois have been hit with gun violence. Yet spineless politicians continue to pander to the gun lobbies while the proliferation of weapons continues. Said lobbyists are so frightened on both sides of the aisle that despite the gun violence wreaked on the American public, nary a word of solving the problem has passed the lips of any candidate. Until Americans grow a spine the violence will continue.
Hershey, Utah? Probably the best know name associated with Utah is Senator Orrin Hatch. But the state that gave us crickets, BYU, and a basketball team named the Jazz has cut a sweet deal with chocolate company Hershey. America’s largest manufacturer of chocolate and other sweets announced recently that it will accept an incentive from Utah and build a distribution center in Ogden, just north of the City of Salt. To date Ogden was best known as the home of Weber State University.
What good can possibly come of such a move? Will Reese’s Pieces become Tabernacle Tidbits? Will Hershey’s Kisses become Brigham’s Busses? Will the Great Salt Lake be renamed Sugar Central? Possibilities are endless.
Demos look like dummies: Say what you will about the Democratic presidential nomination race. It is colorful (no pun intended), offers two strong candidates running neck and neck, and well organized. Well, maybe not so well organized in the Silver State. Dems had a convention last weekend and rented a room at Bally’s that could hold up to 5,000. Problem was more than 10,000 showed up. I suppose that is better than holding a convention where nobody came, but not by much.
Perhaps the parties should share leadership. The Republican frontrunner, Sen. John McCain is a military man from Arizona. He could have given the Democrats some sound advice on organization. Instead this fiasco reeked of “Ready, fire, aim.”
Turban Warfare: Did Hillary’s campaign leak a picture of Barack wearing an African turban to the news media? If so (or if not), this is a story because? Who cares? At the risk of being accused of plagiarism of one of Senator Obama’s lines, this is the silly season in politics. Dump the minutia. On with the substantive stuff – like Hillary ditching that yellow blazer or Barack taking notes, or whether or not John made googley eyes at a female lobbyist.
A little blogging music maestro… a silly song for the silly season: “You Can’t Roller Skate in a Buffalo Herd,” by Roger Miller.
Dr. Forgot
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