Everyone Wants to be a Star
The latest parental escapade to get their family noticed is the Henne (as in hiney - horses ass) Family. There’s the alien believing, tornado chasing, wife swapping reality show wanna be’s who decided to create some publicity for themselves.
Obviously they swallowed too much helium while filling their silver weather balloon.
Enter Falcon Henne - the stooge in the hoax who ended up hiding - the only bright one of the bunch - while the Henne family, the Colorado law enforcement folks and every news outlet in the universe chased the silver spaceship across parts of Colorado, convinced by Henne that his six-ear-old was inside.
Of course he wasn’t and the parents now face a boatload of charges and fees connected with the chase and hoax.
They’re not the first. We have the Dugger family who keep squirting out babies to keep their reality show on the air.
Don’t’ forget Octomom. Incredibly she got a reality show too. She must be channeling Anna Nicole Smith for tips on how to act incredibly stupid and get paid for it.
And then there are the little darlings of the child pageant shows, the Housewives from everywhere, Bridezillas…… the list goes on and on and on and on and on.
At first I wanted to ask why these people demean themselves to the point of looking like the lowest of the low. But I realized, like Omarossa, they all crave their 15 minutes of fame and the chance to make some quick cash and occasionally some big bucks. There are always people who will do just about anything for a buck.
In full disclosure I once ate a garden snail for the lofty sum of twenty five cents.
But the bigger question came to mind.
What is it about us as a society that craves watching these misfit fame seekers made total fools of themselves again and again?
Why do we encourage them?
Is it a “there before the grace of God go I?” mentality.
Or - do we so crave more and more of this insanity as an escape from our self imposed hum drum lives?
Whatever the reason, our cultural obsession with these celebrity wanna be’s will continue to drive the Henne’s and other families to get more outrageous with their attempts at fame. As the demand goes up, so will the extremeness of the stunts. I’m sure that one day someone will die trying to get on a reality show. And I’m sure there will be a Neilson record viewership as the death is turned into a special.
Historians tell us we can tell the nature of a culture by its amusements. The Roman’s had the circus. Hitler had his martial parades, we have our reality shows.
What a way for our society to be remembered.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Friday, October 16, 2009
If An NFL Player Can Be An Ass, Why Can't An Owner?
Isn't it interesting how being a pro sports star overcomes a myriad of bad behaviors (legal and illegal) and often boorish comments and actions.
It's okay to be a drug user, murderer, sexual pervert, alcoholic or other type of lawbreaker and still be allowed to play in the NFL - or any other pro sports team.
But it's not okay to be a politically verbose, rabble roouser whose schtick is to inflame and insite his audience and be a part owner of a professional sports team.
It seems to be there's a tremendous double standartd being set up by the NFL that discriminates against Rush Limbaugh.
Do I think he's a blowhard, braggart and general nincompoop?
You betcha.
Do I think that disqualifies him from owning part of an NFL team?
No. Not as long as the NFl continues to welcome back with open arms people like Michael Vick, Steve McNair,Michael Irvin, Lawrence Taylor, Randy Moss to name a few and the other "stars" of the game who commit crimes.
It's okay to be a drug user, murderer, sexual pervert, alcoholic or other type of lawbreaker and still be allowed to play in the NFL - or any other pro sports team.
But it's not okay to be a politically verbose, rabble roouser whose schtick is to inflame and insite his audience and be a part owner of a professional sports team.
It seems to be there's a tremendous double standartd being set up by the NFL that discriminates against Rush Limbaugh.
Do I think he's a blowhard, braggart and general nincompoop?
You betcha.
Do I think that disqualifies him from owning part of an NFL team?
No. Not as long as the NFl continues to welcome back with open arms people like Michael Vick, Steve McNair,Michael Irvin, Lawrence Taylor, Randy Moss to name a few and the other "stars" of the game who commit crimes.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Betting on Education
Rats! Crapped out again.
Expectations by the public and by government about Oklahoma's state lottery were pipe dreams waiting for something good in the bowl (sorry, a 60’s metaphor).
Oklahoma has long looked for a magic bullet when it comes to funding common education. You may recall that selling alcohol in package stores was supposed to increase revenues for education. Then it was liquor by the drink. Don’t forget all the cash Remington Park and para-mutual betting was supposed to generate (along with that avalanche of cash from state horsemen and women).
And then it was the lottery’s turn to save public education because Oklahomans surely loved to gamble as much as they loved to drink.
Goveror Brad Henry and his pals expected $300 million a year from the "A" lottery plan.
The State got a watered down version which was supposed to generate $150 million a year for common education.
Woops - wrong again. The Oklahoma Lottery is generating about $70 million a year.
Promises, Promises!
Oh well, another search for the Holy Grail of education funding became so much slowly fades from view while some Oklahomans are dreaming and scheming to find that next sure thing to fund common education.
You are right to think that any additional cash to the system is a good thing. We can all use an extra buck or two in our pocket. As always when it comes to state education, it’s good to look at who is getting the “extra” cash
The basic questions of how our money is sent go either unanswered or shrouded in such edu-speak that no one really knows where the money goes.
What you didn’t mention was how badly the current system is run or how totally out of date it is. We’re trying to get students prepared for the 21st Century with an early 20th Century education model.
We have over 500 school districts. Why? There are some high schools that graduate five or fewer students a year. Shouldn’t that school be merged with a larger one (economies of scale). Why do we cling to this persistent notion that every town deserves a school?
What about purchasing? It seems we would do better if our state had a real central purchasing unit, one that schools had to use when purchasing for their schools. As it is, local districts can pretty much purchase from whomever they like.
And lets not forget the State Superintendent of Schools. That budget continues to climb for an office that has relatively little to do on a daily basis except promote the State Superintendent.
Of course, we do have to do something about the idea that teachers only work nine months a year and they most are second income earners. Oklahoma refuses to accept the notion that educators are actually the most important person their children come in contact with after their parents. If they did, we'd pay them like the rock stars most of them are.
We only put an emphasis on schools when their football team is winning. It’s inconceivable that a high school football coach makes over six figures (Midwest City) while teachers make a third of that.
It’s time for Oklahoma to totally revamp its common education program. Chipping away at the problem won’t help. We need to totally reorganize the State Department of Education. Emphasis must be on the classroom, not the boardroom.
As long as we continue to think of education in this state the way it’s always been thought of (a nice home for football teams and a lace to park the kids during the day), Oklahoma will never be more than a third tier state.
Our kids deserve better.
Expectations by the public and by government about Oklahoma's state lottery were pipe dreams waiting for something good in the bowl (sorry, a 60’s metaphor).
Oklahoma has long looked for a magic bullet when it comes to funding common education. You may recall that selling alcohol in package stores was supposed to increase revenues for education. Then it was liquor by the drink. Don’t forget all the cash Remington Park and para-mutual betting was supposed to generate (along with that avalanche of cash from state horsemen and women).
And then it was the lottery’s turn to save public education because Oklahomans surely loved to gamble as much as they loved to drink.
Goveror Brad Henry and his pals expected $300 million a year from the "A" lottery plan.
The State got a watered down version which was supposed to generate $150 million a year for common education.
Woops - wrong again. The Oklahoma Lottery is generating about $70 million a year.
Promises, Promises!
Oh well, another search for the Holy Grail of education funding became so much slowly fades from view while some Oklahomans are dreaming and scheming to find that next sure thing to fund common education.
You are right to think that any additional cash to the system is a good thing. We can all use an extra buck or two in our pocket. As always when it comes to state education, it’s good to look at who is getting the “extra” cash
The basic questions of how our money is sent go either unanswered or shrouded in such edu-speak that no one really knows where the money goes.
What you didn’t mention was how badly the current system is run or how totally out of date it is. We’re trying to get students prepared for the 21st Century with an early 20th Century education model.
We have over 500 school districts. Why? There are some high schools that graduate five or fewer students a year. Shouldn’t that school be merged with a larger one (economies of scale). Why do we cling to this persistent notion that every town deserves a school?
What about purchasing? It seems we would do better if our state had a real central purchasing unit, one that schools had to use when purchasing for their schools. As it is, local districts can pretty much purchase from whomever they like.
And lets not forget the State Superintendent of Schools. That budget continues to climb for an office that has relatively little to do on a daily basis except promote the State Superintendent.
Of course, we do have to do something about the idea that teachers only work nine months a year and they most are second income earners. Oklahoma refuses to accept the notion that educators are actually the most important person their children come in contact with after their parents. If they did, we'd pay them like the rock stars most of them are.
We only put an emphasis on schools when their football team is winning. It’s inconceivable that a high school football coach makes over six figures (Midwest City) while teachers make a third of that.
It’s time for Oklahoma to totally revamp its common education program. Chipping away at the problem won’t help. We need to totally reorganize the State Department of Education. Emphasis must be on the classroom, not the boardroom.
As long as we continue to think of education in this state the way it’s always been thought of (a nice home for football teams and a lace to park the kids during the day), Oklahoma will never be more than a third tier state.
Our kids deserve better.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Semper Fi - Sometimes
“Always faithful” for those untrained in Latin or not familiar with the motto of the US Marine Corps.
Too bad it apparently doesn’t apply to all Marines all the time.
It seems back in 1980 those military bureaucrats found out the water being used by Marines and their families at Camp LeJeune, North Carolina was dangerously poisoned with a variety of chemicals, including trihalomethanes. After getting test results in 1980 and verifying them again and again, it took the Marine Corps and the DOD over five years to shut down the tainted water supply.
While the Marine Corps was told to contact 500,000 people about the problem and very real health risks, the Marines continue to say no problem existed.
Fast forward to 2009.
Over 1,600 people have filed claims against the DOD and Marine Corps for poisoning them, causing everything from cancer to Leukemia
Ex Marines are also coming up with a rare disease, breast cancer.
What they want is the Marine Corps and the government to admit their diseases were caused by the tainted water on base and to allow them to get VA health benefits.
But, the Marine Corps and the DOD are balking, saying breast cancer and other diseases caused by known carcinogens in the water don’t merit VA benefits.
Let’s hear it for supporting our troups!
This isn’t new. Remember Agent Orange poisoning? It took decades before the government would admit what scientists already knew - Agent Orange made people deathly sick. Many of the military victims of Agent Orange died horrible deaths because they couldn’t get VA benefits.
All because the government didn’t want to admit a mistake and take care of those who served their country.
And let’s not forget the government refusing to allow soldiers to get treatment for Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome through the VA even though, once again, medical experts said the syndrome was directly related to serving in combat situations.
So once again, military men and women suffered because the government wouldn’t allow the VA to treat them.
Remember the treatment scandal at Walter Reed Army Hospital?
Why does the government feel the need to make getting VA benefits for service related injuries so difficult?
Why do we not take proper care of those who choose to serve in the military?
We ask them to put their lives on the line, we make lots of promises about benefits and healthcare should they get injured.
We promise!
Then we jerk the rug out from under them every chance we(the US Government) can. The Marine Corps has the reputation for taking care of it’s own. When did that change?
It’s a shame. It’s a crime.
It’s dishonorable.
Our marines, soldiers and sailors deserve better from us.
Back in 1957 my family moved to Camp LeJeune. A mere tot back then, I remember very little of our time there.
What I do know is that my mother died from breast cancer and my sister is a breast cancer survivor.
Was it in the water?
How many more have to die or get sick before the Marine Corps owns up to its error and helps the Marines who need it.?
Why is it taking so long?
“Semper Fi” used to be the Marine Corps Motto.
Now I think it’s changed to “Semper Fi…. Interdum”
Always faithful…. sometimes.
Too bad it apparently doesn’t apply to all Marines all the time.
It seems back in 1980 those military bureaucrats found out the water being used by Marines and their families at Camp LeJeune, North Carolina was dangerously poisoned with a variety of chemicals, including trihalomethanes. After getting test results in 1980 and verifying them again and again, it took the Marine Corps and the DOD over five years to shut down the tainted water supply.
While the Marine Corps was told to contact 500,000 people about the problem and very real health risks, the Marines continue to say no problem existed.
Fast forward to 2009.
Over 1,600 people have filed claims against the DOD and Marine Corps for poisoning them, causing everything from cancer to Leukemia
Ex Marines are also coming up with a rare disease, breast cancer.
What they want is the Marine Corps and the government to admit their diseases were caused by the tainted water on base and to allow them to get VA health benefits.
But, the Marine Corps and the DOD are balking, saying breast cancer and other diseases caused by known carcinogens in the water don’t merit VA benefits.
Let’s hear it for supporting our troups!
This isn’t new. Remember Agent Orange poisoning? It took decades before the government would admit what scientists already knew - Agent Orange made people deathly sick. Many of the military victims of Agent Orange died horrible deaths because they couldn’t get VA benefits.
All because the government didn’t want to admit a mistake and take care of those who served their country.
And let’s not forget the government refusing to allow soldiers to get treatment for Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome through the VA even though, once again, medical experts said the syndrome was directly related to serving in combat situations.
So once again, military men and women suffered because the government wouldn’t allow the VA to treat them.
Remember the treatment scandal at Walter Reed Army Hospital?
Why does the government feel the need to make getting VA benefits for service related injuries so difficult?
Why do we not take proper care of those who choose to serve in the military?
We ask them to put their lives on the line, we make lots of promises about benefits and healthcare should they get injured.
We promise!
Then we jerk the rug out from under them every chance we(the US Government) can. The Marine Corps has the reputation for taking care of it’s own. When did that change?
It’s a shame. It’s a crime.
It’s dishonorable.
Our marines, soldiers and sailors deserve better from us.
Back in 1957 my family moved to Camp LeJeune. A mere tot back then, I remember very little of our time there.
What I do know is that my mother died from breast cancer and my sister is a breast cancer survivor.
Was it in the water?
How many more have to die or get sick before the Marine Corps owns up to its error and helps the Marines who need it.?
Why is it taking so long?
“Semper Fi” used to be the Marine Corps Motto.
Now I think it’s changed to “Semper Fi…. Interdum”
Always faithful…. sometimes.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Cleansing the Bible
Oh my God, Allah, Supreme Deity, et al.
Scott Schafly wants to cleanse the "liberal bias" from the Bible?
Cleanse?
That sounds suspiciously like someone who wants to make changes to support his or her belief system. I can think of a number of leaders past and present who "cleanse" history, books and traditions to make them conform to their personal beliefs.
As with journalism, I guess guys like Scott never let a good translation get in the way of making it say and mean what he want.
Anyone who has taken more than a couple of years of Latin can attest to making Cicero and Ovid translations come out differently from the accepted translations.
The only thing more insane than the belief that the Bible is the unaltered, unerring word of the Christian God is that Scott Schafly is the man to translate the earliest copies of the Bible (no originals exist) to the "correct" version of the Bible.
What gall! What chutzpah!!
What a load of crap.
This is yet another attempt by the radical religious right to make sure their religion and now their Bible conforms to their notions of what thye want their religion to be.
Just as the early followers of Paul decided their beliefs were right and all others were wrong, now we have a 21st Century version of Paul's followers hell bent on forcing the beliefs about Christianity and the Bible to conform to their political views.
What always amuses me is that Schafly and those like refuse to follow one of the basic tenants of their faith and a lesson from their Bible - Tolerance.
Why are they so adamant that their beliefs, their faith, their God and now their Bible are the "one and only true way"?
It doesn't take much to realize that they are doing this, not out of a sense of enlightment but out of a need to control, a need to be right and a need to be self righteous.
Maybe part of the Tribulation is that we all have to suffer through the insufferable rantings and ravings of Schafly and his quest to "cleanse" the Bible.
Perhaps he should spent a little more following Christ's teachings instead of trying to force everyone else to believe like he does.
Then again, the cynic comes out in me and I must wonder if this is all a ploy to get more cash into the political organization that is Scott's mom, noted right wing political and religious zealot Phyllis Schafly.
Use religion for personal and political gain?
Who'd have thunk it?
Oh..... Scott Schafly
Scott Schafly wants to cleanse the "liberal bias" from the Bible?
Cleanse?
That sounds suspiciously like someone who wants to make changes to support his or her belief system. I can think of a number of leaders past and present who "cleanse" history, books and traditions to make them conform to their personal beliefs.
As with journalism, I guess guys like Scott never let a good translation get in the way of making it say and mean what he want.
Anyone who has taken more than a couple of years of Latin can attest to making Cicero and Ovid translations come out differently from the accepted translations.
The only thing more insane than the belief that the Bible is the unaltered, unerring word of the Christian God is that Scott Schafly is the man to translate the earliest copies of the Bible (no originals exist) to the "correct" version of the Bible.
What gall! What chutzpah!!
What a load of crap.
This is yet another attempt by the radical religious right to make sure their religion and now their Bible conforms to their notions of what thye want their religion to be.
Just as the early followers of Paul decided their beliefs were right and all others were wrong, now we have a 21st Century version of Paul's followers hell bent on forcing the beliefs about Christianity and the Bible to conform to their political views.
What always amuses me is that Schafly and those like refuse to follow one of the basic tenants of their faith and a lesson from their Bible - Tolerance.
Why are they so adamant that their beliefs, their faith, their God and now their Bible are the "one and only true way"?
It doesn't take much to realize that they are doing this, not out of a sense of enlightment but out of a need to control, a need to be right and a need to be self righteous.
Maybe part of the Tribulation is that we all have to suffer through the insufferable rantings and ravings of Schafly and his quest to "cleanse" the Bible.
Perhaps he should spent a little more following Christ's teachings instead of trying to force everyone else to believe like he does.
Then again, the cynic comes out in me and I must wonder if this is all a ploy to get more cash into the political organization that is Scott's mom, noted right wing political and religious zealot Phyllis Schafly.
Use religion for personal and political gain?
Who'd have thunk it?
Oh..... Scott Schafly
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)