Gotcha!!

Try to imagine this. You're a politician in the national spotlight. You've had three days of non-stop activities---speaking to people you've never seen, answering a myriad of questions that range from the ridiculous to the sublime. You've had countless microphones thrust in your face, you've eaten quick meals while hundreds of camera flashbulbs illuminate the room, you have not had a decent night's sleep in a little more than a week. At the end of the day, you mutter an inane answer to a question. The next day---GOTCHA!

It seems the only function of media today is to pester newsmakers, be they political or other in nature, until they FINALLY say something you can run with---something that makes headlines---something that makes for a great segue tease out of the commercial break.

One of my Virginia Tech Political Professors, Dr. Bob Denton, told us that everyone will say something stupid, if they talk enough. With the innumerable TV Cameras, Microphones, and Cell Phones waiting to record every politician's utterance; its a wonder it doesn't happen far more often.

As I read and hear the national media's breathless reporting today of Sarah Palin's gaffe on the history of Paul Revere, I am saddened. We are facing a 14 Trillion dollar debt, we have armies serving in hostile zones overseas, we are faced with critical decisions on entitlement spending and Palin makes the "A-Block" of every newscast?? And she's not even a Presidential Candidate!!

Lest ye think I am showing my conservative colors, I felt the exact same way when President Obama caught flak about signing the wrong date in the Palace Book in London last week---or when he misspoke about "57 states."

It would be wonderful if the same collective energy the national media devotes to making mountains out of molehills could be applied to raising the level of debate in this country about the stuff that actually matters. But that wouldn't sell nearly as well. Those of us offended by every hack who makes a lead story out of minor misstep should be more vocal. If not, this "Entertainment Tonight" brand of Gotcha Journalism will continue.

A little torn today...

It's not my nature to be maudlin over tragedy. My default setting is to move on. But every year when 4/16 rolls around, I can't help but reminisce about what happened at the school I love.

What I choose to remember the most are the 32 people who were killed that day at Virginia Tech. When I look at their bios, I am struck by the outstanding character that is obvious with most of them.

These were winners! A Holocaust survivor who held the door while students escaped through a second-story window; begin riddled with bullets in the process. A French teacher who seemed to possess a special connection with her students. A former wrestler who was killed while tackling the gunman.

Even more impressive is the public service resumes that had already been compiled by folks in their late-teens to early twenties. These were people who were on their way to becoming outstanding adults. It's trendy for middle-aged folks like myself to view the younger generation with benign disdain. To laugh at their ability to hold conversations while texting. The lives these young people led before their death should make all of us forty-somethings rethink our views on the next generation.

One in particular stands out. As a hopeless Detroit Tigers fan, I became familiar with the Motown Sports website years ago. Among the most frequent contributors was Brian Bluhm. He was also one of the best posters. I noticed that he had a VT logo as his avatar. I shot him an e-mail and he replied; talking about our shared love of the Hokies and the Tigers---and how trying both teams can be!

Brian was shot twice while sitting in an Engineering class in the second floor of Norris Hall. I wished I had e-mailed him more often.

I guess it shows maturity on my part that I've pretty much forgiven the shooter. Evil takes many forms and envelops people. Such it was with Cho. I hope his tortured soul is finally at peace. His final resting place is not my call.

I won't dwell on the tragedy today. I'll play with my kids and try to be a good husband and daddy. Tonight, I'll have a couple of beers and track the Tigers' game on the Internet. But a part of me will be thinking about Brian and the others.

Ut prosim.

Groping with security questions...

Just in time for the Thanksgiving travel season, state-sponsored sexual assault!  Welcome to America!   Now drop your drawers!

I am not a "frequent flyer" by any stretch.   My idea of fun is not being herded like a lamb to the slaughter, through a myriad of checkpoints, with the ultimate goal being to step into a pressurized metal tube hurtling through the air at several-hundred miles per hour.   Let's put it this way---airport bars show a measurable profit on the few occasions I take to the air.

I haven't had to deal much with the TSA.   I've flown twice since 9/11.   Both times the only items I took on board were a paperback book with crossword and sudoku puzzles.   I figured the less I carried, the less suspicious I would be.   I was wrong.

I guess it was the beard that prompted the vigilant TSA agents to have me remove my shoes, empty my pockets, and submit to a visual scan of my Mr. Olympia-eqsue body before being awarded the honor of boarding a clausterphobe's nightmare.

Look, I understand the concept of airport security and why its so important.  It's an unfortunate sign of the times.   My main concern is that this is the latest instance where Americans have had to ask, "how much do we put up with and still consider ourselves a free people?"   It seems we're asking that question far too much these days.

Here's the little secret that no one in the TSA will admit.   The next major terrorist attack will almost certainly NOT be via air travel.   The success of the 9-11 attacks were almost entirely dependent upon the cooperation from the passengers.   I'm sure many of them were thinking, "Great---I'm going to be late for that sales presentation in San Francisco."  Flight 93 demonstrated what will happen on ANY flight when passengers know there's a threat of terrorism.

Since that fateful day, a would-be shoe bomber and underwear-bomber have been subdued by civilians.  But the classic overcorrection, as the government assures us they're doing SOMETHING to fight terrorism, is asinine.   Don't even get me started on the profiling.   Until we determine that terrorists are using elderly Asian females to carry out bombings, elderly Asian females should not be profiled for extra "lovin'" by TSA agents.  Young Muslim males should be.   

I think it's also a prudent use of our limited resources.  If that makes me xenophobic, so be it.  as long as you don't ask me to fly. 

Fast Food Follies

I don't know why these are the type stories that piss me off the most.   Certainly in the great scheme of things, the Government takeover of Health Care, overseas military activity and International Trade Policy are much greater issues.    But I find that these "social milemarker" type stories are the ones I worry about the most.

The short version is this:  An effort to force fast-food restaurants to make the meals they market to children healthier passed a San Francisco Board of Supervisors committee yesterday. The ordinance would require that, in order to be sold with toys or other items targeted at youth, meals such as the McDonald's Happy Meal include fruits or vegetables and not have excessive calories, sodium, fat and sugar.

Even in liberal looneyland, there's some trepidation.   San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom is concerned about "dictating how a private restaurant wants to market its food."  No shit!

Do I even have to go into the whole "Camel's nose under the tent" allegory?   While it may be laudable that these leaders are so very concerned about children's health, is there any logical way to argue that this will have a positive impact on children's health?    And even if there is, is it worth the cost of establishing the precedent allowing the government these types of powers.

I'm sure some will point to the Government's regulation of tobacco and alcohol advertising that allegedly targets minors.   Guess what, Jethro?   Those are products that are ILLEGAL for children.   For now, at least, Happy Meals are perfectly legal for our little snowflakes.

Ain't it great to have such a caring, benevolent government to do our thinking for us? Pretty soon, we won't have to worry about mundane things like choosing our Health Care provider, where we eat, what we do.

Thanks, Big Brother! Can't wait to be a Ward of The State!!!

Six months into socialized medicine...

The Obama administration this week is trumpeting the six-month mark of their foray into taking over nearly 20-percent of the Gross National Product.  

The anger I felt in March after the passage of the Health Care Reform Act has subsided a bit.   I now look on it with the inevitability usually reserved for ninth-inning collapses by the Tigers' bullpen, head-scratching losses for the Hokies, and Charlie and Hannah doing something that requires a painful loss of my time, money, and/or energy.

Still, it's worth noting which Health Care provisions are kicking in right now and what they represent for small businesses---not to mention the very idea of a free market economy.

As of today, it is now illegal for insurance companies to deny coverage to children based on pre-existing conditions.    Sounds great, right?   How DARE those companies deny coverage to little children with brain tumors!!!     Other provisions prevent lifetime caps on coverage, and allow slackers to sponge off of Mom and Dad's insurance until they are 26 years old!

There's a reason insurance companies have operated the way they have in the past.   They lose boatloads of money if they run things like the government is mandating.  If you're confused, google "ECON 101."

The insurance companies will, of course, abide by the law.   They'll open up coverage to untold numbers of minors with all kinds of ailments.   They'll let deadbeat 20-somethings leech off their parents a little longer.  They'll also lose lots of money.   Since the insurance companies are not in the non-profit sector, they will be forced to find a way to make up for this staggering loss.   Any guesses as to how they'll do that?

What will follow will make the premium increases we've seen the past couple of years look like chump change.   Health insurance costs will skyrocket.   What happens then?   Big-government advocates will demagogue the insurance companies, calling them "greedy, evil," etc. etc.    They'll then demand single-payer Health Care, which is Barack Obama's wet dream.

I'm not an ogre.   I have no desire to see five-year olds with heart conditions denied medical coverage.   But I also don't want an estimated 200,000,000 Americans being forced to submit to The State's whims about their basic health care.

And again, this underscores the liberal notion that all power derives from the government, then flows down to us.   Silly me.   I was taught that it was the other way around.

Purple Rain

I could feel it in my bones early on---and it was more than just the steady rain and wind pelting Lane Stadium Saturday afternoon.   

Virginia Tech's Hokies were struggling.   Five days after a heartbreaking loss on national television that dashed any hopes of bringing that coveted crystal football to Blacksburg, Beamer's boys tried to right themselves against an in-state 1-AA opponent with nothing to lose.

I felt the same thing in my bones on a sunny October day in 1998.   Tech's name was being bandied about as possible MNC fodder when they welcomed a woeful Temple team to town.   The Owls were playing with a freshman QB who had never started a game; going up against a defense that featured beasts like Corey Moore and John Engleberger.

Tech opened moving the ball well, but falling short on a few critical drives.   They still managed to build a 17-0 second-quarter lead against a team that was not their peer.   Then, the football Gods intervened.   Temple turned a short pass into a 70-plus touchdown late in the second to give them momentum at the break.   In the second half, Tech was stuck in neutral as Temple methodically cut into the lead, and took it midway through the fourth.   A last-ditch drive by the Hokies fell short, and they lost to a team that was a 38-point underdog.

The similarities on Saturday were eerie.   Tech came up short on a couple of long drives and struggled to a 13-0 lead.   Then, disaster hit.   JMU took a flare pass that should have resulted in a five-yard loss; took advantage of sloppy Tech tackling, and ran it in from 77 yards for a score.   Tech opened the second half with a long drive that resulted in only a field goal.   Then the defense gave way.   JMU's option befuddled Tech's young but vaunted defense.   The Dukes took a 21-16 lead, then forced a late Tech turnover to seal the deal.

It shouldn't have happened, but it did.   I saw it.   There's no denying it.

So what next?  Wholesale changes?   Not likely in mid-season.   Perhaps this will result in a little less pre-season braggadocio from the coaching staff---more realistic expectations from fans---maybe even a re-evaluation of who were are as a football team.

I can accept a hard-earned loss.   I can NOT accept a team that consistently performs well under its ability.  Congrats to the Dukes, who proved that mistake-free football can take you far.   For my Hokies, your high-school "Rivals" rankings mean exactly jack-shit now.  Play hard!

Some random thoughts for a rainy Monday...

***Labor Unions and the NAACP are, to quote from the movie Patton, "magnificent anachronisms." There was a time when each was necessary. Now, after having largely accomplished most of their core goals, their existence is solely center on self-preservation---the overwhelming need to remain relevant.

***The History Channel's "America: The Story of Us" is a feast for the eyes! It's historical accuracy is questionable and it takes broad liberties; but it sure is fun to watch!

***The number of new green jobs created in the last 15 months is only half of one percent of the eight million jobs lost since the beginning of the Great Recession.

***Did you know that the F.C.C. has a Chief Diversity Officer? That should send a chill down your spine.

***I don't give a rat's ass where LeBron James plays hoops next year.

***Riddle me this---aren't the provisions in the new Arizona anti-immigration law basically the same as are already part of the federal code? If current federal law hasn't already foster the "Nazi-ish" regime that opponents fear; how would it materialize under a state law?

***Remember folks, no problem that the federal government undertakes to tackle can ever be recognized as solved, because to do so would mean the dissolution of an agency. And if the federal program creates new problems, well, those are then excuses for new agencies.