Do What?

Been some things in the news lately which just make me want to scratch my head and say, “Do what?”  So, thought I’d share them and maybe you can help them make more sense to me.  So, if you’re ready and willing, as the late great Jackie Gleason used to say, “And awaayyyy we go”:

• See where Steven Slater has parted ways with his now former employer.  You may be asking who he is.  He’s the Jet Blue flight attendant who cursed a passenger, grabbed a beer, and went down the emergency chute as the plane was coming up to the gate.  People were calling him a hero.  Got no idea why, though.  Wonder how many people missed their connections because of that yahbo?  Figure they couldn’t let people get off the plane after that.  Were people celebrating the fact he treated one of his customers like *$&)?  Unless he was physically in danger, it shouldn’t matter what the passenger said to set him off in the first place.  Were they celebrating that the goober was telling his employer to take their job and shove it?  Isn’t that nice in these times where about 1 out of 10 people are out of work right now?  It just never ceases to amaze me how and why some folks suddenly become folk heroes for acting like idi-ahts.  Maybe somebody out there can tell me;
• A headline the other day said some cleric over in Iran says the Holocaust is nothing more than a “superstition,” whatever that’s supposed to mean.  Well, reckon it means he doesn’t believe it really happened.  Have never understood how people can deny the Holocaust.  Guess they’re idi-ahts, too.  Know it’s hard to imagine 6 million people being killed for nothing more than the religion they were born into, especially over such a relatively short period of time.  Met a man once who told me he was one of the first Americans to go into one of those camps.  The old codger started crying while he was trying to tell me about what he saw.  This was in the mid-90’s, almost 50 years after he’d been there.  Ain’t no way I’ll ever doubt it happened, not that I really doubted it in the first place.  Anyway, not really sure what prompted the cleric to talk about the Holocaust, but it’s hard to imagine a man of God/Allah could really be so dense.  Which leads me to my next “do what?” moment…;
• There’s a preacher down in Florida somewhere trying to organize a Quran/Koran burning.  Talk about something that makes no sense at all.  Even General Patraeus (you know, the big chief of our armed forces in Afghanistan) is talking about how stupid this idea is.  He’s got enough on his plate to worry about without having to think about something like this.  But, I digress.  One thing I’ve never really understood is how some people proclaiming to be Christians can be so intolerant of others.  The Bible is pretty clear that Jesus preached a lot about tolerance of others, don’t avoid sinners or non-believers, and love one another whether they are your friend or your enemy.  As a Christian, it just boggles my mind how some Christian “leaders” can’t see that they are more like a Pharisee than than a disciple.  Does God want us to spread His word and brings others to Christ?  Absolutely.  No doubt about it.  But, God gave us free will because He knows forced love ain’t love at all.  We are supposed to bring others to Christ through love and compassion, not hate and condemnation.  Maybe it’s like a quote I saw on Twitter the other day, “To some Christians, the Bible is like the terms of agreement, everyone checks the box but few actually read it.”  Certainly hope these folks change their mind and don’t go through with it.  Of course, that would imply their brains are working in the first place (Yeah, yeah, I realize the irony in the fact I am judging them…);
• Glad to see Hurricane Earl turned out to be a bunch of nothing.  But, the downside is all the media hype leading to nothing will make people block some of the hype out each time it turns into nothing.  Then, when the big one really does hit, it will be Katrina all over again and folks will get killed cuz they think it’s just a bunch of nothing again.  Reckon it’s a double-edged sword, though. They have to use the hype so folks will pay attention nowadays, which leads to overstimulation of the senses, which turns it into white noise, which leads to even more hype to get people to pay attention again.   Just a vicious never-ending cycle.  I always follow the storms on-line, usually on wunderground.com or the National Hurricane Center websites.  Dr. Jeff Masters has a great blog on wunderground.com, too.  Also use intellicast.com to watch the Atlantic satellite pictures so I can see which systems I think will develop.  The best thing about following things on-line is I can choose how much information to look at and believe.  So, if that kind of stuff interests you, check ‘em out;
• Well, football (yes, football, not footy, for any non-Americans reading this) season is finally here!  Glad it’s finally time for the games, too.  Had our usual Favre saga this year.  The dude I talked about last time finally signed, too.  Hope all we have to yak about now are awesome games.  Saw where Matt Leinart was cut by the Cardinals the other day.  Remember when he was drafted, all the so-called “experts” were talking about what a “can’t miss” prospect he was.  Same thing with Reggie Bush.  Ain’t neither one of ‘em had the kind of career people yammered on and on about.  Just goes to show how tough it is evaluate talent sometimes.  Always thought they were kind of overrated myself.  Could be a little biased about that, though, since I’m such a big SEC fan.  If the Boise State/Virginia Tech game is a sign of things to come, will be a great season this year!;

Well, that’s all I got this time.  Thanks as always for trying to follow my rambling thoughts.  Hope you are doing well, and, as always, am interested in your opinion, too.

Ya’ll have a good one!

Back To Other Stuff

Well, there’s finally some things I feel the need to talk about.  If you’re curious, here we go:

• Read an article the other day which says women buy and wear sexier clothes when they are fertile during the month.  It’s mostly done without much thought to it.  Guess it goes to show we are not much different from the animals after all.  Females in the animal world do all they can to attract males of their species.  And, much like the males in the animal world, men will drop everything and come a-runnin’ when certain things are being advertised, contrary to what the beer commercials want you to think;
• Been lots of yammerin’ bout this dang mosque they want to build at “Ground Zero.”  Should they be allowed to build it or not?  Even President Obama has weighed in on it, sort of, but, will get back to him in a minute.  This is what I think about all this:  Do they have the right to build a mosque wherever they want?  Absolutely.  If you’ve got the money and the land is available, you should be able to build just about anything you want to anywhere you want to build it.  Is this the best location for them to build one?  Probably not, but don’t know exactly what their plans are.  Maybe they’re going to use it as some sort of memorial to the 9/11 victims.  I don’t know.  What I do know is you can’t blame 9/11 on Islam any more than you can blame the killing of abortion doctors  on Christianity.  Just because there are a few nuts in the religion don’t mean everyone who practices it is a nut, too.  And, like it or not, our country was founded on the principle that folks could practice any religion they want.  That’s why the First Amendment says the government shall not establish one over another.  I can just about guarantee you Iran wouldn’t let a Christian church or Jewish synagogue build anywhere they want.  Do you really want to live in a country which acts like that?;
• Knew when President Obama spoke out in support of building the mosque, he was making a big mistake.  Know what he was trying to accomplish, but it was a miserable failure.  He tried to back out of it the next day by saying he wasn’t saying he agreed with the wisdom of building it there, but it was too late.  All those folks that say he’s a Muslim and not born in the US came out of the woodworks again.  This gave them the ammo they’ve been looking for, and apparently some people who didn’t necessarily believe them are starting to have second thoughts about whether they may be right after all.  First, think it’s been established the dude was born in Hawaii.  Get over it.  Second, he’s been a Christian for years, and, even if he is a Muslim, does it really matter?  A vast majority of Muslims are against the terrorists who just happen to be Muslim.  Even if he’s trying to be a subversive Muslim (and he’s NOT), there’s enough checks and balances in our system to keep him from being too successful at it.  In the long run, hope he learned he should think all the way through before he makes a prepared statement and make sure it says everything he wants it to say;
• Keep seeing how the Dems are still trying to blame everything on W.  You know what?  He’s been gone for two years.  If all you have to run on after two years is “It’s all Bush’s fault,” you must not have much to offer, either.  Besides you had control of Congress the last two years of his presidency so you share some of the blame, too.  So, how bout both sides start coming up with some solutions and stop blaming each other for the mess we are in?  Thank you;
• Football season is almost here, and I can’t wait for it to start.  Been following this whole Darelle Revis story a little.  For those of you who don’t know, he plays cornerback for the New York Jets.  When he signed his first contract, it was for 5 years at a little over a million dollars a year.  Now, after two years, he wants to renegotiate it and is holding out.  Part of me thinks he’s wrong cuz I’m sure he insisted on the five year part before he would sign it.  Understand they want some stability, but, why insist on a long-term contract when you know you will probably outgrow that contract in a couple of years?  But, then again, I also know the owners really have the upper hand in this whole deal.  Players only have a finite number of years to play so the sense of urgency is more on their end.  Owners can also terminate the contract anytime they want to.  That’s why the players insist on the guaranteed money in the contract.  I’ll just be glad once the games actually start so we can talk X’s and O’s instead of $’s.  Part of the reason I just enjoy pro football but am really a college football fan.  At least with college football, you don’t have to worry about things like contracts and whatnot.  You just have to worry about gettin caught payin’ them in the first place;
• On a positive note, see where Vin Scully has agreed to come back to announce the Dodger games next year.  Will be his 62nd season with them.  I’m as big a Harry Caray fan as there is, but I think Mr. Scully is the greatest baseball announcer there ever was, is now, and ever will be.  Can remember watching him and Joe Garigiola calling the NBC Game of the Week on Saturday afternoons.  Vin was the perfect straight man to Joe’s humor.  He also has an natural ease of calling a game.  Much like Keith Jackson is THE voice of college football, Vin Scully will always be THE voice of baseball to me.

Well, that’s some of the things on my mind this week.  Feel free to let me know what’s on yours.

Y’all have a good one!

And Now For Some Total Randomness

Hope everyone had a great weekend. Went to my ma-in-law's over the weekend. Always a nice trip which usually don't last long enough. It's like homecoming, too, since I lived down there for 12 years. Wish had more time to visit other folks when we go down there.

Anyway, have some random thoughts to get out of me noggin so here we go:

• Saw where Ken Ober, the host of MTV's Remote Control was found dead today. Was 51 or 52 years old. Sad. Only saw the show a couple of times, but generally liked what I saw. Prayers go out to his family and friends;
• Have seen a lot of news articles lately about Al Gore and Sarah Palin. Wish they would both just go away. Don't really care what either one of them think about anything although I'm sure they are both nice enough folks. Got no idea why Gore keeps surfacing. Got no idea why people think Palin should be pushed for the presidency. While I doubt she's the ditz the media portrays her to be, don't really think she's presidential material, either. So, please, both of you, please just quietly fade into the background and don't call us, we'll call you;
• What is it about Buffalo that makes football folks want to tell the Bills fans they are Number One? Saw where the owner of the Tennessee Titans was fined $250,000 for giving them the one-finger salute. Seems like I recall a crazy Dolphin linebacker (can't remember his name) doing the same several years ago. Geez Louise...;
• Did you hear about the three University of Tennessee football players getting arrested for committing armed robbery? No, that's not a joke. Two were scrubs and one was a starter. Two were kicked off the team today and the other one's decision is pending "gathering more information." Will let you guess which one is still on the team. While the armed robbery part may be unique to Tennessee, the personnel decisions ain't. Funny how the stars get second and third chances while the backups get no leniency. Imagine that...;
• My useless information box up above said on April 4, 1964, the Beatles held the top five spots in the Top 40 chart. That is simply amazing! Most bands don't have five hits in their whole careers, much less 5 Top 40 hits, and even less 5 top 5 hits. Nowadays, bands don't have five songs released at once, either. If they ain't the greatest band ever, they are at least in the discussion and they have very few competitors;
• Speaking of the The Beatles, my kids came home from school today singing Yellow Submarine. When I asked them where they learned that song, they said they learned it in music class. Purty cool. The only Beatles song we learned when I was in school was Blackbird. Anyway, thought it was funny they liked that song because the other day my daughter was talking about how old 80's music sounds to her. Decided not to get into the history of that song since they seem to like it;
• In the last two weeks, have had a good friend, a friend's husband, and a guy in my Sunday school all lose their job. Two of the three were the result of the current economy and suspect the third one was probably an indirect result of it. Makes me thankful for the job I have. Hope you are thankful for yours, too, even if it's not exactly what you want to be doing right now. Asking that you keep these folks in your prayers (God will know who they are without you having to call them by name). Should probably thank the Big Guy for your job, too, if you have one.

That's all for now. Y'all have a good week!