"I Run the Risk....."

Several people commented on how much they liked my last blog on my friend Mike. I run the risk of blowing my good cred with this one but some things have been building up lately and I feel compelled to write. Take everything I say with a grain of salt, compare your views but remember no one has asked me me to make any policy decisions about anything since that last big one I made 2 years ago when I was asked to come up with the Homecoming theme and I said make the theme "Floats". You could have one class do the root beer float, one do the coke float, one do the 5 hour energy drink float and the freshmen do the Hindenburg Tribute float and literally have a gas filled blimp/balloon go down the track and then ignite. They said they would get back to me on my opinions but I was surprised when they never did!


First up: The death of San Diego football icon Junior Seau this past Wednesday.

Like the vast majority of San Diegans; I didn't see this suicide coming. None of the usual markers were in place like: divorce, failed business, poor health, arrest, scandal, or love gone wrong. Like Richard Corey in the famous Robinson poem of the same name, the suicide was/is inexplicable. I modify Robinson's poem this way, "we wished we were like him, and went on working for our bread, cursing the rest and Junior Seau woke up one morning and put a bullet in his chest"

What is bugging me is how his death is being referred to: " he passed away" Junior passed" "he became deceased", "he was lost", "we lost him". NO! Look if you die in your sleep I grant you the proper thing to say is..."he passed away".  If a person is lost at sea, it's appropriate to say, "we lost him". But when you kill yourself, you didn't pass away, you weren't lost! You chose to kill yourself plain and simple. You took yourself away from us we didn't lose you. Junior chose to go; he didn't accidently pass away.

I know why people use those euphemisms but look that is a major part of the problem of suicide, we don't tell it like it is. We gloss over it, trying to take the sting out of it with nice phraseology. We need to say what suicide is if we are ever going to come to gripes with it. Junior Seau killed himself for reasons that apparently only he knew about.That's what he chose to do and there is nothing we can do about it except accept that is what he wanted to do, move on and remember him in a way that will undoubtedly be more generous in our hearts than he was with himself.

Second up:  What's with the uneven U.S. policy towards foreign despots?

Muammar Gaddafi had to go. He was harming his people, rattling his swords, and once again defying anyone to take him out. So with US approval and support Gaddafi went the way of Hussein. I have no problem with murderous thugs being kicked out especially if the people of that country are the ones doing most of the kicking. But why are we sitting back and letting Bashir Assad in Syria murder his own people every day? Recently, after the usual bogus photo op of the UN inspectors making sure the cease-fire was in place (ended) Assad opened up with a barrage of missiles killing scores more. Thousands upon thousands of Syrian people have been systematically slaughtered. In fact, he targeted for death anyone that spoke to the UN inspectors.  So why does this sick bastard still get to kill more people? When will  this horror story end?
Why is one terrible regime worse than the next one? Isn't murder, murder? We are doing everything we can to get the Chinese dissident and his family out of China and in fact he will hitch a ride on Hillary Clinton's plane back to the states. I am glad for him and his family, I have no problem with that. But while we jump through hoops over him we appear unfazed when African warlords go on the rampage and kill 50,000 men, women and kids.
I'm just wanting some explanation about why one country's misery is irrelevant to us and the next one we will do everything we can to intercede. What is our policy on murderous tyrants?  Do we even have a policy?


Third One:  GM will pay no taxes for the next 45 years.

Part of the Obama led effort to save GM from itself was to do two outrageous things. One was to take all the debts they had in their bankruptcy case (yes, they were in bankruptcy) and bring them forward  which had NEVER been done in the history of corporation bankruptcy proceedings, ever. Bring them forward means they are essentially pushed them into the future so you don't have to pay them now. Then part two was to exempt GM from paying taxes for the next 45 years so they could chip away at their future (from the past) debt. Plus, another provision is that no entity (government, or private companies) can sue to change the terms of this "restructured" deal between Obama's people and GM.

It's like this, say you Joe Average American run up a shit load of debts, way beyond your ability to pay them and so you file bankruptcy and then you are told well, we'll just take all your debts and make them due 30 years from now and in the meantime to help you get going again, we'll exempt you from paying income taxes for 30 years. That's great for you.....sucks for the rest of people who will now have to pick up the tab for the next 30 years. I am so close to saying, I won't pay anymore taxes, period because of mismanagement of funds. I'll pull a Henry David Thoreau. Let them throw me in jail, I'll redirect all my retirement checks to an off shore account (like the Wall Streeter's do) and put everything in Austin's name and screw them. My attorney will insist I get the same deal GM gets, or one of the other deals that the "special" people get.

Last One: Cinco de Mayo

This is a big day in California. BUT why??  Of course, May 5th  is not actually even the date of Mexico's Independence but nevertheless California still make a big deal of celebrating Mexico's Independence every cinco de mayo. Do we make a big deal out of Canadian Independence Day? Quick, which day is it? How about Bastille Day in France, Irish Independence Day, How about the Restoration in England 1660? Then there is Portugal, Spain, Brazil, and every other country in the world. NO it's Cinco de Mayo because we are made to think it's politically correct (and nice) thing to accept Mexico's heritage and important days..
We are expected to think about and accept the importance of this day.
Do people in Mexico celebrate American Independence day? Fireworks, American Flag, Kate Smith's recording of "God Bless America"?? Ya think?

My friend Debby in an effort to take some of the BS out of Cinco de Mayo asked a Latino teacher (we both had at the time) "what's the deal about Cinco de Mayo anyway, is it just a reason to get 2 for 1 Margarita's"? She was poking some fun and he recognized that by saying "look it's an important day to Mexicans but for you, 2 for 1 margaritas is as good a reason as any". We all had a good laugh over what he said. Look stop trying make us feel empathy for other country's that for the most part don't give a crap about ours.