Counting on a Miracle

For being in an active area with lots to get out and do I find myself striking out when faced with thinking about what to write about. Seeing as its setting up to be one of the last nice week and weekends left before the weather takes a dour turn I am thinking that whatever I cover is going to be something out door and active. However I am always tempted by a good talk or a presentation so we'll just have to see how it goes.

Attendees, Coordinators or people in charge, participants

I'll ask them:
Why are you here?
How did you hear about this?
What inspired you to start this____?
What do you think of all this?

Is Congress Embarrassed?

The members of the United States congress should be hiding under their blankets right now. Burying their heads in shame and keeping a low profile when they go out in public. Why? Because they were shown up by an audience on the Letterman show. There are specific congress-people that stand out as should-be-embarrassed-but-aren't but frankly, at this point, they all should be embarrassed. A random collection of people who got free tickets to the Letterman show were better behaved than a room full of grown men and women getting paid inordinate amounts of money to sit there and listen to the President speak. While on Late Night with David Letterman, Barack Obama was able to talk about health care, life and a heart shaped potato while a small audience clapped, laughed and showed respect for the duration. Whether or not they agreed with the President it had to be refreshing to step into a place where you weren't going to be shouted down and disrespected.

It would be one thing to be an loud-mouthed senator well known for making jabs at the opposing party. Its quite another when there is such a large delegation booing and hissing that it became the story, not the topic of the speech. The most embarrassing part for the members of Congress isn't that they acted like children. Its like they acted like spoiled-rotten brats. George Bush was never a popular President, especially in the last years in office, there was never a story about him being shouted down in the halls of congress when talking about and unpopular war, or a declining economy, or torture, or misinformation about WMDs. Granted he had to dodge a shoe at some point but that was at a press conference, hardly the same as in the building that is the symbol of our country. No, the idea of shouting at our previous president would have had senators labeled as "terrorist" or "unamerican" or "unpatriotic." It was that mentality of "with us or against us" that made open disagreements so threatening to political careers for eights straight years. Unfortunitly, no one reminded to tell the Senate and House that the rules still apply. This is one country, people should actually be proud of it, and should show support for the people elected. So this is to the booers, the hissers, the people in town halls screaming like an infant in church; to the unpatriotic, terrorist-loving, freedom hating individuals that will rip the country limb from limb and leave pieces of it dangling from thier jagged mouths. It doesn't matter if everyone agrees but burn the flag in your own yard not on the floors of congress.

Luke- Who believes that whether or not you are a senator you should always try to be civil.

High Moral Values

We are a nation of people that praise the good guy, we love the hero, the savior, the all around nice dude. Its evident by how we idolize Chelsey Sullenberger, how we stood behind the hero's of 9-11, and how we praised the Navy Seals for the rescue of an American hostage. We do all of this for the right reason, we do all of this because its important to define what we deem as good and bad; mostly we do this because they deserve it, and not everyone gets acknowledged for doing the right thing so we beat these news to a bloody pulp to make up for it. We stand for high moral values.
The problem isn't that our values are getting too high, they are getting too distorted. With Micheal Vick's release from federal prison looming many people will speculate about Vick "getting what he deserved." NFL teams are avoiding him like the plague despite the fact that he'd probably add a level of athleticism to many of the teams in the league. Also there is no way NFL teams aren't interested, one of the top overall athletes in football is eligible and no one cares? Please. The fact is teams are so concerned with their image that they don't want the liability of having a dog killer on their team.
There is no doubt in Vick's guilt, and what he deserved can and probably will be debated for years to come but the truth is this: deserved it or not, Vick is being punished worse than any other player in recent history. For what? Not for the dogs, even PETA admitted they wanted to take Vick to the cleaners to prove a point, to make him an example. We bought it hook line an sinker, sure some people complained but they were few and far between swallowed by the animal lover inside most people. The problem is with so many athletes with criminal records how do you decide which is worthy of a thorough thrashing by the American judicial system and who gets off with a slap on the wrist?
Why did we suddenly value dogs' (admittedly several dogs) lives more than humans? In 2000 Ray Lewis was a arrested on murder charges that he denied. In a street fight that left two men dead Lewis and two other men were arrested for the stabbing deaths of both men. When Lewis denied his guilt the Ravens stood behind him. Then in a case with more holes than the OJ Simpson trial Lewis pled guilty to a misdemeanor and let his two lackeys take the fall, hall of famer indeed. The problem is if you get on and Google NFL players: murder charges you get pages and pages of murder, attempted murder, manslaughter and so on. If you make it NFL players: sexual abuse, the list gets longer.
There is no advocating for Vick at this point, what's done is done. There is no feeling sorry for him either, what he did was vile and evil to the highest degree. Somebody should be advocating for our conscience though, when NFL teams are afraid to pick up a dog killer for the image they might have, while suspects to a whole litany of crimes against men, women, even children sit on their sidelines. We let it happen, with our "high moral values", we will boo Vick when he comes back, fans will say things like "I'll never watch another game if my team gets Vick." Then we'll cheer when Ray Lewis rips off an unsuspecting running back's head. Thank god for our high standards.