Sat Musings

In no way do I take any pleasure in the loss of life in Gaza, but.... Today's newspaper had a number of letters-to-the-editor condemning the Israelis. OK, but the letter writers lost a lot of credibility by not condemning the Hamas rockets lobbed into Israeli civilian neighborhoods the past weeks/months. Without the Hamas attacks, there would have been no Israeli counters.

I continue to be amazed at the common perceptions of BO. Far too many people think, they really do, think he's the "messiah." I conversed with a guy this AM who claimed BO has done "a lot" as Ill legislator, US Senator, etc. I asked for one thing and this guy's response was, "Oh, your just repeating what the Republicans have been saying." Of course, that wasn't an answer to my question (and, in fact, he wouldn't accept the truthful answer to it, "not much!"), but he seemed to think his next statement cemented things, "Bush is an asshole." Well, he might or might not be. I think he's been a very, very rotten President for a variety of reasons, but, again, that isn't an answer to my question. It's like the public schools--those in charge cannot engage in dialogue that challenges what they are doing.

I see two more murders this week from "good kids," on a 19-year old, the other 16. The 16-year old "good kid" had priors--assault of a police officer in his school and carrying a concealed weapon. Yeah, real "good." I know this isn't my head talking, but my gut. I'm getting sick and tired (well, yes, of the hypocritical, incompetent politicians, but that's another story) of crime, all of it. I'm still burning over the creeps who stole our credit card numbers last Sept/Oct. I read of the child abusers and whatever else. And, I think, "What's wrong with the death penalty for these jerks?" I know the death penalty is a bit strong for credit/identity theft, but the slap on the wrist for the guy (if he ever does get caught) doesn't do it for me. And, no, they aren't "nice guys" who had "problems," blah, blah, blah.... Lots of people have "problems," but don't turn to crime, preying on other people. Maybe it's time to stop coddling these vultures and take away their televisions, give them bread and water, stop the college classes (for free, mind you!), etc.

I see the Moody Blues aren't in the rock and roll hall of fame. Some guy had a letter asking why they weren't. Obviously, it's politics and/or stupid people in charge. Some of the names/groups I've seen who have made it are jokes, laughable. It's another reason not to take these things too seriously, sort of like the Nobel Peace Prize. C'mon, can you say "Yassir, that's my baby, Arafat" and "Nobel Peace Prize" in the same sentence without laughing? Of course you can't. Now, try it with "Al Gore." See, you can't help but laugh. In the same vein, why isn't Ted Simmons in the baseball hall???? He has better stats than 2/3 or more of the catchers in Cooperstown. He stacks up favorably with Thurman Munson and, in fact, surpasses, Bench and Fisk in numbers. And he was a switch hitter who didn't have Rose, Morgan, Perez, Geronimo, Griffey, et al in his line-up. Again, yet another reason why I don't pay much attention to this stuff.

Hmmm. I still haven't heard much from Sens Stabenow or Levin lately, with the auto. And, where are the Portajohns? Why aren't they out front leading the charge, trying to get the 20-year old stereo-types corrected? This isn't support for bailouts, of the financials or the autos, just a comment about who is and who isn't working, at least publicly, for Michigan. And, if they are working, behind the scenes, isn't that counterproductive? The whole country needs to know the US auto makers of the past couple of years aren't the auto makers of 20-30 years ago.

One of my buddies had an interesting and insightful comment last week. What do we do about government? It's incompetent (George Will's headline last week sticks in my mind, "When did government become competent?" The answer is obvious; it didn't.)--hypocritical, enabling, stupid, dishonest, criminal (ask Mark Twain!), etc. Yet, who or what else is there to protect against the monster corporations (read the history of 100 years or so ago)? The corps can't be trusted, but neither can gov't. Hmmm. I extrapolated and extended this question to labor unions. They were needed and I appreciate what, historically, they've done. But it's hard, very hard, to defend the work rules, the jobs bank, and, in a sense, the money union members often earn. Yet, and I realize this from personal experience, they protect good workers from lousy bosses. I have few doubts, as does anyone who ever worked with me, that, without the union protections of the past (namely tenure) one or more of my principals would have canned me on the spot, regardless if I knew more history than the rest of the dept combined or am able to communicate very effectively or had standards that didn't call for As and Bs to students who could merely breathe. Their accolades went to the fools who served on committees, service which perpetuated and gave teacher sanction to the lousy policies and programs that have ruined the public schools. So, what do we do with unions????

Out to sample, yep, you guessed it, a LaBatts. I have to make sure what it tasted like yesterday is still there today!

Nice talking to you, Ron.