The Shocking, the Ridiculous, and the Absurd

- Courtesy of Sister Sue: The Wakefield (Mass) Track and Field Team is taking a lot of flak for its new team tee shirts that simply say WTF; reminds me of my Little League days playing for Braintree Savings Bank when our hats said BS.
- The Chandler (AZ) City Hall posted restrooms signs warning people not to drink out of toilets and urinals.  Seriously?  Have people been bobbing for apples in Chandler’s public restrooms?
- The NFL will likely push for an 18 game regular season schedule, an increase of 2 games from today’s schedule.  You know who is the happiest about this potential change:  Csonka, Shula, Griese, and the rest of the ’72 unbeaten Dolphins.
- Citizens of Oklahoma unanimously passed a law that bars Oklahoma courts from considering Islamic or Shariah law.  This rise in Islamophobia is being stoked by demagoguery and ignorance.  How can Sharia law be considered in an Oklahoma court of law that operates under the Oklahoma State Constitution? 
- Why is everyone up in arms about this Four Loko?  OK I get that it’s caffeinated alcohol drink.   What do you think Red Bull and Vodka is?  Collegiate alcohol overindulgence is not a new problem: Grain alcohol punch.
- Morgan Stanley Manager Martin Erzinger will not face felony charges for a hit and run accident in Colorado.  Erzinger, in his Mercedes, struck Dr. Steven Milo while Milo was riding his bike and then proceeded to leave the scene.  Milo suffered spinal injuries and bleeding in the brain.  District Attorney Mark Hurlbert defending his decision not to pursue felony charges said “Felony convictions have some pretty serious job implications for someone in Mr. Erzinger's profession, and that entered into it.  When you're talking about restitution, you don't want to take away his ability to pay."  Tough shit.  I hope Milo’s civil suit lands him tens of millions and Hurlbert is hurled out of office.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Secular American Jew and a Love for Israel

As many of you know, I have dedicated many postings to the State of Israel on a range of topics including: it’s history, the present day government, the Jewish-Palestinian question, and the region in general.   Growing up in a liberal conservative Jewish household (the oxymoron is quite common as American Jews were almost exclusively political liberals and the conservative branch of Judaism the most common) and attending Hebrew school as a kid you obviously build an affinity for the State of Israel.   I do not remember the Six-Day War of 1967, but I have vivid memories of celebrating Israel’s 25 th anniversary in 1973 and the Yom Kippur War later that year.   As a ten year old attending Yom Kippur services I saw the worried looks on my parents and the other adults at the shul as members of the congregation would periodically step outside to get news reports from car radios and transistor radios (We still drove and used electrical appliances during the high holidays, though several fam
Read more

September 10, 2001 was a Monday

Where were you on September 10, 2001?   What were you worried about?   What occupied your thoughts, worries, hopes, and dreams?   What were you excited about?   What were you interested in? September 10, 2001 was a Monday. Cindy and I were still laughing about the recent visit from the Three Amigas: Leah, Roseanne, and Valerie, and the adventures of Sedona, a certain screen door, a forgotten carrot cake, and breakfast for champions.   We were also dealing with a 1995 Chevy Blazer that seemed to be on its last legs, surviving our first Arizona summer, thinking about what to remodel in the house, dealing with the concept of a Home Owners Association, thinking that my best shot at a World Series game maybe with the fledgling Arizona Diamondbacks, and looking forward to a visit from Scott, Lori, and the boys. But what about America?   We knew nothing about a tiny town in Pennsylvania called Shanksville; Guantanamo Bay was the setting for A Few Good Men, and we still taped shows and listene
Read more

Sunni and Shia: So who are the bad guys again?

Baby faces vs. heals?   Cowboys vs Indians?   Good guy always where the white hat.   “Dig is he a good guy or bad guy?”   Bad guys always, looked, well, bad. You’re either with us or you’re against us.   Iraq, Iran, and North Korea are the axis of evil. Americans, for the most part, have a pretty simple outlook on conflict: just tell us who the bad guys are and we’ll know who to root against.   We tend to lump similar races and peoples into larger buckets, mostly due to the media’s inclination to treat us like potential Jeff Foxworthy competitors.   But the world is anything but simple and as I have written previously, the Middle East is as confusing and confounding place as you can find.   During the Iran and Iraq war of the 1980’s most Americans took the position that “…as long as they kill each other, I’m good.”   When civil war ravaged Afghanistan, we joined the side of the Mujahedeen because they were fighting the Soviets and the Soviets were our archenemy, a position they occupie
Read more