Another set of Rhodes scholars

I've come to realize that we really are a society of self-centered, egotistical people. I try not to be but, hey, sometimes it just happens. I'd like to believe that I was raised right by my parents and observe the Golden Rule. For those not in the know, this means treating others as you wish to be treated. Plus, I think karma can turn around and bite you in the butt when you're least expecting it, so do people right. Open doors for people, maybe let someone ahead of you in the grocery line when you have 55 items and they only have two, offer a seat on a bus or subway to an older person. Why this sudden introspective approach? Well, folks, gather around and I'll regale you with the tale of two girls who cried "discrimination".

I'm sure you have heard about these two brainiacs on a Southwest Airlines flight from Tampa to Los Angeles. They didn't get their way after throwing fits (according to other witnesses), and were detained by police when they arrived in sunny L.A. They cried discrimination for the manner in which they were treated. Was it because of their race, gender, ethnicity, religious affliation? Nope, because they were "too pretty" (their words, not mine). After running this story for all to read and see, the general consensus is that these girls have issues and that their parents were apparently sorely lacking in the discpline department. Others have hypothesized that it was all an act to get their 15 minutes of fame ever since this other Mensa candidate got her face plastered on every media outlet in the country. I'm not saying these girls were ugly, but I don't think they were beautiful enough to support their claims that they were so pretty that others were moved to jealous attacks. As the one girl claimed, "we were the only people on the plane that looked like us." What exactly does that mean? That you didn't have identical twins travelling with you? Are you deluded enough to believe that no one on that plane looked as young, dressed as well (purely in their own minds), or were as pretty (subjective) as you?

If I were one of these girls acting as they did on the plane, my parents would have beat my ass all the way back from LA to Tampa. They certainly wouldn't have allowed me to get on national television and cry and whine about how I didn't get what I wanted, when I wanted, and claim discrimination. I blame the media for this. If I were at the news station and heard this story, I certainly wouldn't have sent people to cover it, let alone sensationalize it into what it's become. Wake up people! These kids have a sense of self-entitlement because their parents let them believe it to be so. Take this lady for example. (Just FYI, she cried discrimination too. Guess it's the "buzzword" nowadays when you don't like the outcome to a situation.) Don't call me when the kid goes nuts because you finally told him no and he kills your whole family (not kidding here, seems to be happening more and more often). If the parents don't follow the rules, how can you expect their kids to follow them.

I see plenty of people nowadays not disciplining their kids. I'm not talking about beating them or even spanking them. I'm talking about telling them no, and that they're not always going to get their way. It's not the end of the world and they're going to have to deal with it eventually. It's a fact of life and the sooner kids know about it, and learn to deal with it in their own way, the better the world will be. We have become a society all about the "me, me, me." Our kids have been raised so that they expect to win everytime and that they are entitled to everything they want. We need to change this right now, or weep for the future. These could be your future leaders. Scary, huh?

Please use your "inside" voice at life.sa.laugh@hotmail.com.

So it's been a while since I've last posted. I know, the horror right? Not so much. What has happened since the last post? Well, there was the whole McCain/Lobbyist scandal, the Oscars, the dismantling of the North Korean nuclear weapons plant and, most important of all, Britney getting to see her boys. Yeah, that's what's in the news today. Yippee. And they wonder why our society seems a bit warped. Glad to see we all have our priorities in order.

I feel the need to comment on the North Korean allowing the US to bring people over to oversee the dismantling of a plant that apparently had the capability of building nuclear weapons. Yep, the axis of evil is a little bit smaller. Go figure. They've shown pictures of said plant and let's just say they were not awe-inspiring. Like much of the country of North Korea, it looks a bit poor and dilapidated. Of course this is the country that has many starving people because they funnel all their money into their military. If only they could use their powers for good...

On to the Oscars. Did anyone watch this? Just wondering. I did not. I figured why stay up late for all the good awards when you can just read about them the next day. Plus why do I want to watch people who earn way too much money talk about getting even more money as they wear dresses and jewelry that they don't have to pay for, receive goody bags that are worth more than I make in a couple of years, and attend parties that free for them. I sound a bit bitter don't I?

Let's see, what's next. Ah yes, Sen. McCain. Okay, so the New York Times ran a story about Sen. McCain having an "inappropriate" relationship with a younger (much younger!) lobbyist for a telecommunications company that had business with a board of commerce which he was head of (think I got all that right, if not, check it out on any of the news sites. They always have the juicy details.) Why is anyone surprised by this? He's running for President. The stories come out of the woodwork when you're running for president. If you ever did anything wrong ever in your life, the media will find it and run it 20 times a day because it will be well-read news. Ratings people, ratings!!!

On a positive note, there was a story that Jamie-Lynne Spears, aka the trainwreck's little sister, got her GED. Good for her. At least she's finished high school, sorta, and is planning on going to college. Once again, good for her. At least she's trying to turn her teen pregnancy into a positive thing. Not that being a pregnant teen is the end of the world (wouldn't know it by the media's take on it) but the fact that it shows that a celebrity can take something that many teens are facing and make it a positive and not let it slow down her choices is good. Glad something positive came out of the Spears' camp. Guess after the Britney debacle, anything has to look good right?

Enough of my soap box grandstanding. Depressing news can be found anywhere. I say look to the positive and eliminate the negative. :) It has to be all up from here right?

Another Sad Day

I'm sure your have heard and/or read about the tragedy that has befelled Northern Illinois University. Once again a former student has taken the lives of innocent people before turning the weapon on himself. Conjuring images of VT and the tragedy they endured, this happened again in a classroom full of students. The one place on campus that a person should feel safe. My question is why do these disturbed people feel the need to snuff out others' lives before taking their own? Is it to make a statement? Is it to validate their existence? Whatever the answer is, this pattern needs to stop. Maybe if the media stopped covering these tragedies with such fervor, we wouldn't be so focused on them and there would be fewer incidences of tragedies such as this. Maybe I'm wrong in my analysis, but it would nice to see if it would make a difference.

Prayers for all the NIU students at life.sa.laugh@hotmail.com.

Political Hooey

So I thought I'd weigh in on the whole political mess that's going on now (not that I think anyone actually cares what I think). First we have the presidential hopefuls vieing for our attention and votes. May I ask why we think this will matter? Does anyone actually think that the new president, whoever he or she may be, will be able to fix the mess that is our country? Just wondering. I, unfortunately, have become rather cynical when it comes to the political race. Number one, even if we vote for the person we want in office, there is no guarantee that this person will actually win (remember Al Gore / George W. Bush 2000?) Just because the person gets the popular vote does not mean that he/she will be president. Isn't that the whole point of an election? If the American people say we want candidate A in office by voting for that person (more than 50% of the popular vote), then that person should be in office. Screw this whole electoral college thing. Let the electoral vote count for exactly how many people they are. If a state has 2 electoral votes, let there be two votes for whoever they want to vote for. It should not be the determining factor on who is in the oval office. Maybe that's just me, but I've gotten to the point where I say, "Screw it, why vote since it doesn't matter anyway." Not a good attitude, I know.

Secondly, our economy is in the toilet, so we've been told. So Congress wants to distribute checks to everyone who paid taxes so it can stimulate the economy. Maybe I'm no economic genius but I think that if we have no money (thanks Iraq) should we be issuing out more money we don't have? This kinda ties into the previous rant (see paragraph above) on how this is going to be fixed. Currently, Canada's dollar is worth more than ours. Yeah, didn't think that was ever going to happen. What's next, pesos worth more than our dollar too? Nobody wants to hear that taxes are going up but if they don't how are we going to pay for money we already spent? Just wondering. No matter who gets into office, they're doomed from the start because if they do anything to try to fix the mess that ol' W got us into, they going to be criticized. Guess it's the nature of the beast.

Is it me?

Am I the only one drawing some sort of correlation between the skyrocketing cost of gas and the record profits that continue to be reported by Exxon? I'm not an economics genius but it seems to me that if a company reports $11,000,000,000.00 in profits, in profits!!!!, and our gas is so high, there may be a connection. I find it ironic that during the GOP debates (I believe it was New Hampshire) that when asked if there should be some kind of action taken against oil companies such as Exxon when they report such exorbitant amounts of profits and the people of America are being crunched with amazingly high fuel prices, that Fred Thompson said no. Gee why do you think that is? I think it's because way too many people up in Washington D.C. get their palms greased with Big Oil money to keep things status quo. I know that we as Americans are also to blame buying the big gas-guzzling vehicles that we do, but you would think as the politicians keep harping about how we need to stimulate the economy they would first start looking at cutting back on these corporate profits, or have them pay more in taxes, thus helping the American people out either by lowering their prices or by helping to replenish the government coffers that have nothing but cobwebs and IOUs in them. But maybe it's just me.



Thanks Exxon, Chevron and Conoco at life.sa.laugh@hotmail.com.