Amid speeches, platitudes, gloomy market closes and dire earnings reports the story that has really intriuged me this week was another matter entirely.
In a quick and decisive move, the House has acted quickly to enact legislation prohibiting the ownership of chimpanzees and other primates. The bill is expected to clear the Senate shortly. This magnificent piece of political genius happened “in the wake of a brutal - and highly publicized - attack last week in which a Connecticut woman was critically injured by a rampaging chimp. It passed easily by a 323-95 vote.”
Are we serious? Clearly the individual ownership of chimpanzees is at best ill-conceived and at worst dangerous. But what has happened to freedom? What has happened to liberty? What, for that matter, has happened to states rights?
“Lions & tigers & bears, oh my!” We needed the federal government to move aggressively on this critical issue why? And what will be next? Maybe overweight cats are too big a drag on the economy…outlaw ‘em! Parrots could go cage-crazy and peck out an eye…deport the feathered little buggers! Personally I detest pit bulls and think ownership of one is criminally stupid but I must say that I would fight for the right of every American to own one if they choose to.
Where was speedy and decisive federal action about actual issues…you know, things like Freddie Mac & Fannie Mae gaily loaning money to dishonest and/or starry-eyed naïve homeowners, or maybe the appalling lack of airline safety measures or perhaps premium crazy health insurers or even more federal support for mass transit. Actual honest-to-god problems that affect more than that poor woman in Connecticut.
Why, I am amazed that so many Americans have escaped similar grisly fates before the federal government swooped in to save us! This one small piece of legislation may signal, I fear, a rapid slide down a very slippery slope. Who among our founding fathers could have envisioned the need for Patrick Henry to say "Give me liberty or give me a monkey"!
Friday, February 27, 2009
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Random Things
I've managed to get my sister-in-law Mary hooked on Facebook, and a few weeks ago she posted 25 Random things with a "tag". Now, I'm still a Facebook newbie and don't really get the whole tagging thing but I was frankly intrigued by lists of 25 random things. Personally, I wasn't sure I could think of 25 random things worth saying, and even if I could think of them, I was even less sure that I'd want everyone else to know what they are!
And I read a newspaper column shortly thereafter about things the writer had learned in these "lists" that he really didn't want or need to know. Not to be dissuaded though, I then began to consider the concept of "25 random things" - and it struck me that given the whole "random" concept I could just as easily list as many things as I want to because the number of items on the list SHOULD BE RANDOM too. Okay, so the pressure is off to meet a specific number and I had a little fun making my own list:
1. I finally found the love of my life and he asked me to marry him
2. Teenagers are 1000% harder to raise than toddlers
3. Dogs and cats, kittens and puppies are fabulous EXCEPT for pit bulls
4. I am a decent horseback rider - western style
5. I can change the oil and spark plugs on a car myself but would rather not
6. I hate exercising and love carbs - but that isn't the way I live my life
7. I used to have a jingle for my radio air name of "Billie Jackson"
8. I've discovered mosaic-ing and although I love it I'm not terribly talented
9. I wish I'd become an attorney
10.I fantasize about owning an old classic two-seater Mercedes convertible
11. Cold white wine and very dry martinis are the best
12. I'm jealous of people who are able to actually stay in touch with old friends
13. I've always thought my immediate family was dysfunctional but the older I get the less sure I am
14. I'd like my headstone to say "she loved, she tried so hard, she made US feel important and we forgive her any mistakes she made along the way"
15. on a related note, I do not want to be cremated
16. I wish my Siamese cat Mongo was still alive
17. I hate guns
18. My favorite movie is Casablanca but my favorite book is The Bridges of Madison County
19. I can't understand a single word in rap or hip hop songs
And I read a newspaper column shortly thereafter about things the writer had learned in these "lists" that he really didn't want or need to know. Not to be dissuaded though, I then began to consider the concept of "25 random things" - and it struck me that given the whole "random" concept I could just as easily list as many things as I want to because the number of items on the list SHOULD BE RANDOM too. Okay, so the pressure is off to meet a specific number and I had a little fun making my own list:
1. I finally found the love of my life and he asked me to marry him
2. Teenagers are 1000% harder to raise than toddlers
3. Dogs and cats, kittens and puppies are fabulous EXCEPT for pit bulls
4. I am a decent horseback rider - western style
5. I can change the oil and spark plugs on a car myself but would rather not
6. I hate exercising and love carbs - but that isn't the way I live my life
7. I used to have a jingle for my radio air name of "Billie Jackson"
8. I've discovered mosaic-ing and although I love it I'm not terribly talented
9. I wish I'd become an attorney
10.I fantasize about owning an old classic two-seater Mercedes convertible
11. Cold white wine and very dry martinis are the best
12. I'm jealous of people who are able to actually stay in touch with old friends
13. I've always thought my immediate family was dysfunctional but the older I get the less sure I am
14. I'd like my headstone to say "she loved, she tried so hard, she made US feel important and we forgive her any mistakes she made along the way"
15. on a related note, I do not want to be cremated
16. I wish my Siamese cat Mongo was still alive
17. I hate guns
18. My favorite movie is Casablanca but my favorite book is The Bridges of Madison County
19. I can't understand a single word in rap or hip hop songs
Friday, February 20, 2009
"too many 'notes'"
As we begin here today:
To quote from the movie Amadeus, when Mozart asks the king why he doesn't like the latest musical composition, the king ever-so-cleverly replies, "Because there are just, well, just too many notes"...and so it goes. Sometimes the answers make no sense, sometimes there is NO answer, and sometimes the questions themselves are the problem !
However, it's also Friday and this week I'm still blowin' up on FaceBook, our new wx maps and wx presentation ROCK, I've learned (kinda) how to blog, and I'm hoping against hope that there is a large martini in my future.
To quote from the movie Amadeus, when Mozart asks the king why he doesn't like the latest musical composition, the king ever-so-cleverly replies, "Because there are just, well, just too many notes"...and so it goes. Sometimes the answers make no sense, sometimes there is NO answer, and sometimes the questions themselves are the problem !
I'm lucky enough to have a truly great job: creative, challenging, ever-changing, and the chance to work with some very talented people. But as in all creative endeavors, and in much of today's broadcast environment there seem almost a class chasm...the people who instinctively understand how to produce great work and those that either don't have the experience, the desire or dare-I-say the talent to do so.
There is nothing wrong with not having the talent to be a great tv producer. (Sounds almost Seinfeldian!) I mean it's not like I have the talent to be a mathematician or a linguist or a doctor. But being a pretty intellectually curious sort, I struggle to understand not wanting to learn how and why something does work.
Here's what I question today:
-does any regular person actually know what is in the stimulus package?
-if we do bail out the carmakers does it signal the end of capitalism?
-what will happen to the glut of unoccupied foreclosed-on houses & comm'l property? Are we going to become a land of futuristic, empty, burned-out buildings with hungry, unemployed, wild-eyed people roaming the streets?
-why was I still up at 11:00 last night reading Shakespeare so I could quiz my 16 yr. old son on Julius Ceasar this morning at 5:30?
However, it's also Friday and this week I'm still blowin' up on FaceBook, our new wx maps and wx presentation ROCK, I've learned (kinda) how to blog, and I'm hoping against hope that there is a large martini in my future.
My friend Shawn told me yesterday, as we shared our woes and fears (mostly mine) about 401k's & investments & children & jobs "ya know, this scary thing we are living through isn't going to be a sprint. If you run at your flat-out hardest for the first mile, you'll be dead long before this thing is over." Good advice, much easier to agree with than to live.
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