Friday, September 17, 2010

Nobody Asked Me, But...

1) Boy, is my face red! It turns out there was a perfectly prosaic and all-too-human reason for this: the "victim" lied. This episode does not wane my (all-too flagging) faith in God one bit, but it does harm my faith in humanity in two ways. First, there's the woman herself. An incredible story such as this should immediately have made me skeptical and had I heard it first hand, presumably I would have been. Second, the reporters involved. I pointed out yesterday the dearth of good journalism in this day and age, juxtaposed against Edwin Newman's career. Here's a pretty good example. Even the Vancouver, WA police were baffled by her story and took it at face value for weeks. Reporters, who in my experience are usually pretty good at sniffing out something that smells funny, in this case didn't. I relied on their investigations, when I should have known better. I let me willingness to believe in their work ethic along with my willingness to believe that God sometimes throws us a message to overrule my innate skepticism. That was dumb. Shame on me.
 
Lesson learned. I hope.
 
2) MEMO
 
TO: Sarah Palin
 
RE: Republican Leadership
 
It's probably not a good idea to tease the tiger until it's far behind you in the rear-view mirror. You thought liberals and Democrats were tough. Honey, you ain't seen nothin' yet! Youbetcha!
 
3) Likely tornado hits New York City: The skies grew dark at 4:30, as dark as they would be around 7:30 this time of year. At first, it looked like we'd duck the worst of the storm. I stared out my office window, realizing I did not have my umbrella, and chanced the train home anyway at 5:30. An hour later, a time I normally would be changed and riding my bike, I was stuck under the East River. The trains were stopped. Debris on the tracks down the line. We limped into a station, and I got out, knowing I was still an hour or so from home (oh, for my bike and the ten minute ride!). The rain had stopped, and the skies were clearing. I muttered to myself the asininity of some idiot littering the subway tracks so badly that a little flooding could cripple a subway line that is not only rated the best in the city, but carries hundreds of thousands of people each night, the number bumped up by the Mets game last evening. I hopped on a local bus. I did not bother turning on the news as I arrived home hours late. This morning, I wake to hear that we had a tornado, possibly. Certainly, the storm was a lot worse than I imagined.
 
 
5) The self-referential irony here is staggering.
 
6) Pakistan is on the verge of exploding in full-out civil war
 
 
8) It appears there are actually some things that Obama is passionate about. This is one of them.
 
9) Someone better develop a koala condom, or at least find a way to keep them from whoredom. Or perhaps they should keep them away from people my age.
 
10) You might remember Scott Janke, the Florida town manager fired when the town found out that his wife is a porn star. Well...he might win a better job.