Raising Children Again

I wish I were just starting out raising my children ... You just said to yourself, "Self, is he nuts"? Allow me to explain.

If we were just beginning to have children I now have a fool-proof way of getting my children to eat their vegetables. I would look each of them into their tear-filled eyes and threaten to send them to live the rest of their lives in Liberia.

The quote below comes from the Atlanta Journal Constitution on 2/22/08. Notice the use of the words "overrun", "pervasive", "half", "not", "uninhabitable", "little" & "no". After you finish using these words there is not much left to lament...
"The country is overrun with weapons, malnutrition is pervasive, half of children are not in school, and many buildings are uninhabitable. There is little running water or electricity and no sewage or landline phone system."

The Liberian Tourist Bureau is left with something like...
"Come join us in Liberia. Is it is a terrible place to live but you don't live long."

Would I kid u?

Picky Me

Here I go being picky again...I can't help myself.

What ticked me off today (2/22/08) was the News Media ... again. In the Atlanta Journal Constitution there is short article on page A4 that is headlined...
"Clinton tells fans to vote early"
What's wrong with that you ask? It's the word "fans". It's not supporters. It's fans. It's like this is some kind of sporting event or game. Some of us may laugh and say it is a game but this is serious stuff. It ought to talked about (by the media, anyway) as serious stuff.

It's the same as when a politician concludes a news conference and the media refers to how the news conference came off by referring to it as a "performance". This is not a stage play. It is politics. It may be shameful but it should be treated (by the media, anyway) as serious stuff.

Don't get me started about the congregation in our churches being referred to as "audiences". Oh my gosh! I am picky.

Would I kid u?

The PolLight

There ought to be a law that a red light be surgically installed on the top of the head of any candidate running for office. The light would function as follows…
If the candidate were speaking a lie, the light would turn on.

Because of some politician’s propensity to lie unceasingly, the light would have to be rigged so that it would blink every 45 seconds. If this were not the case, voters might lose faith that the light was working properly.

Would I kid u?

Not About John McCain

This is not a commentary about John McCain. It is a commentary about this guy Anonymous. He really gets around. He is sometimes a Senator or a Representative or a Staffer or an Insider or that old stand-by, Etc.

In the February 11, 2008 issue of Newsweek there is a large picture-on-the-front article about McCain. Senator/Representative/Staffer/Insider/Etc. Anonymous is all over this article...

• Page 31 - "says the aide, who declined to be identified speaking for Cornyn".
• Page 31 - "say a Pentagon official and an adviser to Rumsfeld who declined to be identified discussing a confidential meeting".
• Page 32 - "says a former aide who wished to avoid McCain's wrath by remaining anonymous".
• Page 32 - "who declined to be named discussing the internal workings of the campaign".

Since there have been incidents where entire articles and/or parts of articles have been made up (like that reporter for the New York Times did), I wonder if Mr. Anonymous is, in all reality, many times is Mr. Does-Not-Really-Exist-I-Just-Made-Up-All-This-Stuff-Cuz-My-Article-Needed-Some-Pizazz (not that there's anything wrong with that).

Would I kid u?

My Fondest Wish

There is no way to unite a country as large as the USofA but my fondest wish would be that all of us refuse to answer any questions from any political pollster about anything political. This would drive the politicians absolutely nuts. Think of the positive results that would come out of an I-Ain't-Gonna-Tell-You-Anything America....

• It would prevent politicians from tweaking their latest campaign pitch to address how the public reacted to their prior campaign pitch.
• It would drive the politicians absolutely nuts.
• They would be forced to tell us what they really plan to do when elected, instead of telling us what they think we want them to do when elected.
• They would be forced to think out their positions and stick with them and hope for the best.
• It would drive the politicians absolutely nuts.
• It would put every polling company out of business. Since they are only interested in what's best for America (yea, right), they would then be free to join the Peace Corps (if such a thing still exists).

One final tirade...
The silliest one is when we are told the results of a poll done by a Democratic or a Republican Pollster. It is strange how the "results" always come out favoring their party's positions. I guess I could be made to believe that the poll did come out in favor of their party's positions but, you will never get me to believe, that any poll that did not favor their party's positions was just not published at all. It's sort of like them saying, "We are going to keep polling the American People until the American People get it right".

Would I kid u?