No Midas Touch at the Winter Olympics, Eh?

Is it my imagination or does this session of the Winter Olympics seem to have more than the usual share of ill will, finger pointing and a lack of grace? There's so much complaining from the U.S. hockey teams, the Davis-Hedrick feud, remarks from the ever-so-gracious and humble Sasha Cohen, grandstanding, and just in general such bad manners that we should consider sending Kobe Bryant over there to join in the festivities. Let's face it, excuses or not, the winners won and the losers lost and that's just the way it is.

And how about those Austrians and the doping scandal? I can imagine the unions in California are positively salivating over this because they can now somehow associate the illegal activity with Arnold Schwarzenneger and use it against him when he runs for reelection. Something like the following, delivered in a smug manner by some teacher-of-the-year recipient: "The Austrian Olympians were caught cheating. That's very very bad for school children, just like your governor is. Do they both hate education? We'll let you decide that one. Tch tch."

Moving on to other things, it seems the latest Bush administration debacle is over whether or not to allow an Arab-owned company to manage a significant number of our domestic sea ports. This has caused quite an uproar across the nation, both democrats and republicans alike questioning Bush's support of the deal. I wanted to learn more about this and on the way home today I listened to the John and Ken show on KFI 640 as they conducted a phone interview with congressman Dana Rorabacher.

The problem is, after listening to the show I still don't know what to think about it because every time the congressman tried to say why he agreed with Bush on the issue, John and Ken (John, in particular) kept shouting him down and wouldn't let him speak. While I agree with John and Ken on most issues, I find it irritating that they don't let their guests say more than a few words before interrupting them and yelling so loud you can't really get an idea of the other person's point of view. If you don't know what the other side has to say, how can you argue against them? An old adage says, "know thy enemy." If we are going to form valid and effective arguments against someone then we need to know what that someone believes in; otherwise, how can we prepare ourselves? I wish they would let their guests say what they have to say so that the radio audience can form an intelligent opinion; if the guest is really that stupid or wrong, don't you think the audience is smart enough to figure that out? So while initially the idea of having an Arab-owned country manage our own ports seems like a dumb idea, I'd like to know why Bush is so much in favor of it rather than just dismissing it without hearing the reasons.

Finally, I made a horrifying discovery today. I had a Swanson's Hungry Man Mexican-style dinner tonight and in the nutritional information box on the back saw that the contents of the plastic tray held 870 calories! Not only that, but it gave me a full 93% of my recommended daily sodium requirement. The other stats were also eye-openers. Hungry Man dinners are no health foods, but this particular one came out about twice as bad as the norm. That got me to thinking, what the heck are the nutritional stats like at a typical Mexican restaurant where the portions are a lot bigger? That's scary. On the other hand, maybe this is my chance to get rich by jumping on the sue-happy bandwagon with all the other lowlife and their lowlife attorneys, filing a claim against Swanson for, horrors of all horrors, my getting fat because I ate too many of their Hungry Man dinners!! Maybe the Americans can't find gold at the Olympics, but I just found a gold mine in that blue cardboard box tonight! Har har har!

Has It Been That Long???

Well well, like so much of life in general, time seems to have just slipped by and I see the last entry I made in this blog was back at the end of September, last year. Around that time I was ranting and raving about the special elections coming up in Culifohniyah in November and how I would be posting more observations about what a lying bunch of union people there were, trying to sabotage what was best for our poor state.

Unfortunately I never got around to doing any of that, not that what I had to say would have made a difference versus the millions of dollars spent by the evil unions to ensure that they kept people too stupid to make a sensible decision when voting. In other words, all of Arnold's measures crashed to a dismal defeat and while the unions, including the selfish teacher's unions, can be congratulated for their underhanded efforts, we really have no one to blame but ourselves for being too stupid to read the measures ourselves and thus see through all the lies that were hurled at us in the media. Therefore, we deserve whatever consequences arise as a result of these propositions failing to pass.

Arnold must take a lot of the blame, too. I cannot understand why he remained silent for so long and just let the lies and deceit spread by the unions go unchallenged. By the time he did get to the task, he had already been painted as the next combination Hitler and child molestor so it was too late.

So today's observation has to do with the uproar that has been created by the publishing of cartoons that make fun of Mohammed and Muslims in general. I decided not to publish pictures anymore because first of all, no one reads this blog anyway except a few who came here based on search engine queries only to find out it wasn't what they thought they were linking to, and secondly, it is too much trouble looking for pictures to post. This blog is just for me to steam off on what I perceive as the stupidity in this world.

First, regarding the cretins who drew the cartoons and the cretins who published them: yes, you do have a right to free speech but I feel what is the overriding factor is that you need to have respect for your fellow human. I do not see the point of publishing trash like this. Yes you have the right to do it, but if your purpose was only to insult, degrade and anger people as well as provoke trouble, then those are really poor reasons. The cartoons aren't even funny; they are childish and serve no constructive purpose. Just because you have the right to do something doesn't mean you are doing the right thing if you exercise that right.

Also, I understand that a bounty has been announced for the death of those who made these cartoons. While I think that is another thing that is really stupid, is anyone really surprised? You who did these cartoons - what did you expect would happen when you insult an entire religion, a significant portion of whom are fanatical to the point of violence? If indeed any harm is done to you, don't go blaming anyone but yourselves for having stooped so low to do what you did. It was tasteless and uncalled for and again, while you have the right to do it, be prepared to suffer the consequences of exercising your right in such a stupid manner.

Now as for the idiots that are rioting and committing acts of violence over these cartoons: get a life. All of your actions make you no better than the people who drew the cartoons, and you are also giving the rest of the world a very bad taste in their mouth about Muslims. Had you just ignored this as something immature and childish, it would have gone away very quickly. Yet because you chose to react in the same childish manner as the perpetrators of the cartoons, you are just as low as they are.

Also, the rioting and violence has not been limited to just being against the people with the cartoons. Now you are striking out at everyone else in the world - it is you against the world. And I suspect the cartoons are now just being used as an excuse to commit mayhem. Maybe you need a few new television sets in your house? You're no better than those folks in South Central Los Angeles who felt that they had to loot a bunch of stores and stock up on electronic gear back in the early 1990's as a matter of principle.

The thing is, God gave all of us a very special gift, the gift of a conscience. It is a shame that in this world we live in, too few people make use of it.