Saturday morning headlines

ALL I KNOW IS WHAT I READ IN THE PAPERS:
Springsteen revs up for Super Bowl Halftime
Guess this means Bruce Springsteen is gonna be the entertainment. I'll guess he doesn't have any 'costume malfunctions'. This is how much attention I pay to the Super Bowl-first I knew who the entertainment was going to be was when I read this headline. It kind of amazes me that with the economy around the country in the toilet like it is, how many hundreds of thousands of people without work, people killing their families because they lost their jobs, people losing homes, leaving pets behind, people having to choose between heating and eating that there is an event like this that will cost millions for the highly touted ads, the entertainment, not to mention the player's salaries, the rings, the price of a ticket, all the escess, and people can't feed themselves or their families. Something is wrong here, and I sure don't know how to fix it or who ever could.

At least 7 dead in bus crash near Hoover Dam
Sad – people coming for a vacation, probably saved up for a long time to do it, and this is what happens. No word that I saw on the cause of the crash, but I will make a guess. I've driven that road, and when you get up to that part of it, it's pretty steep and winding. I will guess the generic 'speed too fast for conditions', judging from accounts of those watching it happen, swerved back and forth across the road, into the median, crash. Now, I know that most people drive too fast for conditions – witnessed it first hand going up to Saratoga the other day in the snow – and I did notice a few of them in the snow alongside the road, which I love to see, btw, when someone has gone speeding past me. But one of the ones I particularly noticed was – yup, a bus. Big ol' Trailways, in the hammer lane, passing everybody who was slowing down on a curve, heavy traffic, slick road, a wreck a little ways ahead. And there goes the bus, with presumably a bunch of people on it, passing them all. Hey, driver – YOU are responsible for all those people, not to mention the other drivers around you. But, nope, they're not going to crash, not them. I hate busses, but that's all for another story.

Obama's Super Bowl guests revealed
By the time I got to this link, this story was nowhere to be found. But do we really care who watches the Super Bowl with the president. I guess some body must, or they wouldn't report on it. And, yeah, I guess we should because he could have spies and who knows what all in there with him, cheering on whichever team – but really? Isn't there enough real news? Guess not.

Drew Peterson, fiance call it quits
Remember Drew Peterson? Investigated in the disappearance of two of his wives, not enough evidence to charge him in either? The way I read this story it sounded like she did the auitting, not him, but whatever. Now this man is the epitome of egotistical, plus being a bit stupid and probably a murderer, but at least he was smart enough to do that so he has not been caught and charged – yet. He did a tv interview where he said that with women he likes younger ones and the thrill is the chase, once he has them for a while he gets tired of them. He then watched the interview with his current (now ex) fiance. She got pissed – can't say I really blame her – to think that she'd be replaced (or worse, given his record) and a fight took place, ending with her leaving and then coming back with her father, who had to call the cops to get her things out of his place. Smart girl – not too smart to get hooked up with such a scum bag in the first place, but smart girl to walk out, still alive. Somebody needs to nut this guy.

Horse Abuse Leads to Jail Time
I have been following this one for several months, in the Missoula paper. Seems a father and son (I think from New Jersey but I don't remember for sure) from someplace where they don't have much to do with horses, mountains, back country and all that macho stuff, bought four horses and went off into the mountains for an extended pack trip. They did not take care of the horses, lots of things that are pretty disturbing: the horses got sores, malnutrition, lots of problems, and they left one by the trail almost dead when two women came along and found it, rescued it, and somehow the men were found and charged with 21 counts of animal cruelty. They are sentenced to just under 2 years in jail each and must pay damages plus for the care of the horses. There is some justice, although not enough. The son had never been on a horse before, never mind know how to take care of one, especially in those conditions. How do you spell d-a-m-n-f-o-o-l-s? Should have been them laying beside the trail covered with sores and skinny as a rail. But that's just what I think.

A Carousel for Missoula

I read the Missoulian (Missoula, MT) online most days because that’s where the grandson is and I want to make sure he hasn’t made the headlines. It’s a nice little paper. Missoula is a nice little town. A river runs through it, the Clark Fork River (not the one of the movie, that was the Blackfoot which joins the Clark Fork a few miles from Missoula), and there is a lovely park alongside the river through much of the downtown area. There is a carousel in the park, inside a building and open almost year round. It was a gift to the city, story at: http://www.carrousel.com/. A feature story over the past few days tells of the volunteers who come in every year to fix up and repaint the horses; the carousel is closed for a short time while this is done. What fun that must be, to paint carousel horses. There are some beauties, both on the carousel itself, and around the building, there’s a small gift shop and a snack bar, and a playground outside it. You can stroll along the river, and if you go across to the other side and take the Kim Williams trail you can go all the way to the ‘M’ mountain and up it (no, I didn’t). I did spend a nice few hours in the park, and I did ride the carousel. I tried but I couldn’t grab any of the rings - but I rode the carousel, because here’s what I think: you should never be too old to ride a carousel.

An Historic Day

JANUARY 20, 2009 What an historic day this is. Whether or not you voted for Barak Obama, whether you are Democrat or Republican, left or right wing (personally I never did figure out what that means or who is which), conservative or liberal, you have to ‘fess up that this is an historic time. Who would have thought that in the span of one generation that African-American/Negro/Black, call them what you will, that one race of people could go from not being able to sit at lunch counters, ride in the front of the bus, drink from the same water fountains as white people to having a President of the United States? Not Martin Luther King, for all his memorable speeches and visions. Not Rosa Parks, who just wanted to sit down because she’d worked hard that day. Not the thousands of protest marchers, the children who were bussed to the first integrated schools, the reporters, the government which voted in history making legislation, no one could have guessed that our country would make such a giant step.

Slavery was a big issue in the First Continental Congress, at least according to the show 1776. Rutledge, from South Carolina, challenges Thomas Jefferson and the other men in that hot Philadelphia room that while they are debating freedom they are forgetting those who are not free in the soon to be a new country. His song Molasses to Rum to Slaves is one of the most powerful in any show. It was almost 100 years later that Abraham Lincoln’s presidency finally freed that part of the United States population, causing the most devastating conflict to take place in our country, the Civil War. Another hundred years had to pass before the race was made equal under law, if not in the thinking of some people. And now, a mere 40 years after that, there will be an African-American president and his family sleeping in the White House tonight.

Does this take away the pain of anyone who lost a family member, loved one, friend in those rough days of the 1960’s Civil Rights Movement when one race fought another for freedom? Does it take away the feelings of those treated like a lower class for so many years in so many ways? Does it negate the thousands of people treated as property in the days of slavery? Does it heal the injustice that still does go on, even if it is only in a look or a mumbled comment from someone whose thinking is warped away from equality? No to all of the above. But is surely does help to balance the scales in the memory of all those who fought for equality and freedom.

I don’t care who you are for or against, you gotta admit that.

I admit to being a little more aware, since my grandson is mixed race, half African-American, but regardless, you gotta admit today is indeed historic.

Obama’s got a rough road ahead, whoever got into the office would, given the shape we’re in right now. Can he fix things? Who knows, but he’s taking the challenge and given the way that history has been working, here’s what I think: he’s got a pretty good shot at it. Give him time, give him a chance. We might see even more history made.

January 20, 2009. What an historic day this is. Not one I thought I’d ever see.

ALL I KNOW IS WHAT I READ IN THE PAPERS

ALL I KNOW IS WHAT I READ IN THE PAPERS

Will Rogers said that first, but looking at some of the headlines makes me want to comment. And there’s never a lack of something that invites it.

Friday, January 15, 2009:

Of course today the big news is the plane crash in the Hudson River. What a colossal job of flying that pilot did, he is indeed a hero. Right behind him are the crew and the passengers who got themselves out without a mass panic, and the rescue workers who were right there and got everyone out of the water. What an example of everything going exactly right when it could have gone horribly wrong. Just imagine the carnage if he had not been able to put the plane down in the water, but it crashed into a New York City street or neighborhood. No, let’s don’t imagine it, let’s just all give a little prayer of thanks for those people being saved.

'God was certainly looking out for all of us' - whichever one you pray to, he certainly was.

Jailed rapper DMX calls pink jumpsuits 'disrespectful' - Um, ‘Hi’ - you’re in jail. You’re probably in jail for a reason, some of which no doubt included being disrespectful of someone else’s life, person, property, or whatever. Suck it up, big guy, and start being a man.

Saturday, January 17, 2009:

Big news all over is the weather. And still the plane crash. And the inauguration.

Weather: it’s, depending on what I read either -2 or -10 here - I can’t see my thermometer because the wind the other night blew something in front of it and I haven’t wanted to wade through the snow to move it so I can see. Cold enough, whichever the actual temp is. People are griping but I keep saying ‘it’s what winter used to be’. We had a few easy ones and they got spoiled, I guess. Birds are busy at the feeders and the squirrels are leaving track in the snow, but so far the deer have not come to raid the bird feeders.

The plane crash, everyone has seen everything on the news and it’s still a miracle, people are still heroes.

The inauguration. Obama boarding the train to take Lincoln’s train ride from Philadelphia to Washington. He’s a different kind of guy, with the odds against him right from the start. Here’s hoping he can give the guidance to turn things around, and that there are not too many people just against him for the wrong reasons to not cooperate. Not trying to get political here, but I kind of have to agree it’s time for some kind of a change.

Of course that would have to spread throughout the country and change a lot of the thinking of a whole lot of people and I don’t see that happening, Scooter.

Better get going here, somebody’s gonna show up with costumes and I’m still in the pj’s.

Let’s see what tomorrow’s headlines bring.