:Perhaps I am Too Cynical"

Perhaps I am Too Cynical

#1: According to the front page of USA Today November 26, 2012 high school students nationwide are cheating less. In a poll of 23,000 high school students nationwide, only 51% say they've cheated on a test in high school whereas 2 years ago it was 59%. In addition, 2 years ago 27% of teens said they had stolen from a store at least once and now it’s down to 20%. Progress?

My take is: Since all you have to do to get a “C” in most high school classes is show up, behave and stay alive during the term there is less need to cheat. Getting a “B” is what I said above plus you tried to learn something. You know how it works, every kid gets a trophy and every kid gets into college (unless they are felons by age 18) and even those get in a third  of the time. The point is there is less need to cheat. 

Perhaps I’m too cynical.

#2: My friend is distressed because she doesn't have much “discretionary” money this year for Christmas gifts. That time of year, artificially created by business and greeting card companies, to guilt people (like my friend) into becoming big time spenders so as to give one last end of the year boost to company bottom lines.

My Take is: No I am not THAT cynical! I love Christmas, love the good feelings and warmth between people. I love the trees, lights, eggnog, church and connections. It’s a time for sharing secrets and hot cider. What I don’t like is our buying into the idea that we must BUY things even when to do so often stresses us and our familes. Okay, I get giving all those non-cheating students a gift, and it is a great excuse to buy the baby often needed clothes and supplies but adults giving adults gifts? I told her forget the adults, our gift to each other is each other! Where would we be without each other? The people I care about and who care about me is my gift. 

Perhaps I am too cynical.

#3: A thoroughly pissed off state of Texas wants to secede from the Union. Recently 116,000 + signatures were gathered (only needed 15,000) to get this on a future ballot.

My Take is: The sooner the better. It will cost everyone more for “imported” ribs and steaks and players will need passports to play any Texas teams, but hey, why we’re at it can we throw Alaska in with the deal. We don’t need a state that is geographically closer to Siberia than mainland USA and that elects Governors that shoot animals from a helicopter (Palin). While we are at it, let’s let go of Hawaii. I know it’s beautiful, and the people are friendly but we didn't even think enough of this place to defend it (Pearl Harbor), the driving there is treacherous and don't forget they gave the rest of us Don Ho. Now we are down to 47 states, my solution is dividing California into 2 states: Northern California and Southern California. I mean the people in Virginia were wise enough to dump those western Virginia hillbillies into their own state so why not let’s accept that Northern California is nothing like Southern California. Now we are back to 48 Continental States and that means we could get back to even rows of stars on the flag. 

Perhaps I am too cynical.

#4: Susan Rice the embattled US Ambassador to the UN will likely face a stern challenge to her apparent soon to be announced appointment to replace Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State.  She is embattled because she made the rounds of all the Sunday talk shows 2 days after we lost four Americans at the overrun embassy in Libya telling anyone and everyone that the attack was a result of a local spontaneous outrage over a stupid, tasteless video about Islam made by an American. She did this then and for days afterwards said the same thing repeatedly. Come to find out, she (as did all of the White House and intelligence agencies) knew, right from the beginning, it was a terrorist attack timed to coincide with the anniversary of 9/11. The point is the American people were deceived about what happened for 2 weeks. She was the point person.

My Take is: Why question her appointment for Secretary of State?  She takes orders from her bosses, does what she is told even if it’s unethical, puts on a good face, can appear sincere on cue, is a good bull- shitter, can lie with a straight face and has no guilt or remorse. She’s the Democratic version of Condoleezza Rice. Perfect! 

Perhaps I am too cynical.

#5: In a recently concluded UCLA study, older folks that had consistent physical activity also had a 5% increase in gray cells over sedentary older people. In the study people between the ages 69-95 had 5% more cerebral cortex (gray cells) (information processing) if they were physically active than people that were less active. The study is clear, stay active as long as you can and you’ll stand a better chance of staying mentally sharper.

My Take is: If you don’t stay active you won’t even make it to 69 to get in the +5% group. How much money was spent on this research breakthrough: the more active you are (and the longer)  the better you do both mentally and physically? Really?  OMG!! 

Perhaps I am too cynical.

** I have to stop now, I must go be active, can’t afford to take any chances!!

"Lance Armstrong"

I’m just asking:

RE: Lance Armstrong

    

The man that won 7 consecutive Tour de France titles and dominated the world of professional cycling  has had all his cycling accomplishments wiped out by the over whelming evidence of his having cheated. He did EPO (blood doping) and took other performance enhancing methods. The evidence comprises 40+ witnesses and a hundred or more pages of sworn testimony of teammates, friends, race officials and competitors. The evidence is so overwhelming that even his most loyal endorsement deals have been dumped. His seven Tour titles have been stricken from the books, all of his endorsements canceled for morals clause violations and he is getting an avalanche of bad press. It wasn't just that he cheated and devised an unbelievable amount ways to slip past the doping tests but he also intimidated teammates, friends and acquaintances and others by threatening to ruin their names or destroy them financially. After all he was the great “Lance Armstrong” and who were they? Most kept silent, his teammates for fear of their own doping sanctions if found out + fear Armstrong would drop them from the team, and others because Lance wielded an enormous amount of power. But this cheater, liar, manipulator, and bully is no more. The cycling emperor’s new clothes finally reveal all. 

In the midst of his cheating, winning, bullying, and autograph signing he also developed testicular cancer.  He successfully beat his cancer but was (in the process) sufficiently “slapped upside the head” by one of nature’s nastiest calling cards that he began a cancer research non-profit organization several years ago. To date The Livestrong Foundation has raised some 450 million dollars for cancer research. Armstrong has been the face of The Livestrong Foundation and he has worked long and hard to raise cancer awareness and the importance for cancer research dollars. Livestrong has active pledges (right now) for 286 million more dollars. Armstrong has worked tirelessly for this organization and its efforts to save lives. In fact even his biggest critics acknowledge Armstrong’s contribution to a worthy cause. Sadly, just two days ago, The Livestrong Foundation dropped his name from the organizations letterhead and titles. Even they know his name is so toxic that in order to keep the Foundation going they had to drop the Founder’s name. 

How weird is that?

I was not shocked when the truth finally (rumors, whispers and tests had dogged him for over a decade) came out about how he had achieved “success” on the bicycle.  Why wasn't I part of the surprised and shocked fans about the all American boy Lance Armstrong? Because cheating is to athletics what lying is to public officials. It too often goes hand in hand. Whether you are deflating footballs, (doctoring up baseballs)  or conducting (“Spygate”with Bellechic and the Patriots), or doing any of the other hundreds and hundreds of other known cases of cheating, it’s if you aren't cheating you aren't trying. I would make a list of the known professional sports cheaters in history but it would take too long. He's just another in a long line of cheaters. What makes his cheating story special is the length of time and the lengths he went to to pull it off. Ten years or more of listening to him proclaim (smugly) that he never failed a drug test. Knowing he threatened people, bribed people, and worse. He is an ugly cheater that was finally caught and exposed as he should have been. So Mr  Armstrong join the long list of other dumb cheats that spend the rest of their lives telling people it was all a mistake.

However, I ask this question: do the ends justify the means? Separate out how Lance Armstrong got his fame, and focus for a minute on the millions he (ultimately is to be given credit for) has raised for cancer awareness.  I‘m wearing my Livestrong bracelet even while I typing this. I believe in the work of this foundation and have donated to it. So have so many others.

If one person is saved as a result of a breakthrough in a particular cancer research then isn't that truly good? What if when it’s all said and done a billion dollars has been raised and we are able to eliminate one or more cancers from the scourge list? Isn't that great?

Look, I  don’t care that Armstrong cheated and lied about it. I really don't. I see him as just another unethical athlete making money off gullible people that want to believe super human athletic things can be accomplished by will power alone. Two years ago there was the Tour de France rider languishing back in 34^th place that suddenly (one day) did the seemingly impossible. He road up the hardest alpine stage,  straight up the alps and down in super record time and no one could believe a good but not great rider could have broken the stage record and gone from 34^th to 1^st  in one day just like that and sure enough he (finally admitted under pressure) that he blood doped, and took performance enhancing drugs. If it seems impossible under normal circumstances it undoubtedly is. Now we know why Lance won 7 straight times, he cheated and got his teammates to set him up to win (meaning they were to not try to win themselves, just ensure no one else beat Lance. He’ll never be taken seriously as an athlete again and he won’t likely be hosting Saturday Night Live any time soon. Lance Armstrong beat cancer but if only he could have beaten his own audacity and ego.

Still I like what all that “Armstrong noise” turned into, a chance for cancer patients to live or have at the very least a prolonged quality of life. I think it was worth it. I will still contribute to Livestrong. Maybe the most ironic part of this story is this. Armstrong wanted to be known for, be famous for, and be remembered for his athletic accomplishments. Instead the profoundly selfish Lance Armstrong will likely end up being remembered the most for helping others. I'm okay with that.

"American Angst"

"The Long National Nightmare is Over"

So it’s come to this, it's finally over. After 6 billion dollars spent (on this election), 2 million ads run, countless photo ops, blathering on and on by so called experts like Axelrod and Gergen, 10 million comedy jokes, thousands of people able and (more disturbing) willing to spend 10K and up just to eat rubber chicken and get a picture with one of the candidates; and after having to look at Sheldon Addles ton  having to listen to Coulter, Hannity, O’Reilly, Cooper, Blitzer, Donner and Vixen I can’t take anymore. I can’t take anymore!

One editorial(ist) in the NY Times said, “We put too much emphasis on this one election; as if we were selecting the next Messiah”. I tend to agree with that assessment. All this build up, angst, hand-wringing, in-fighting, hair pulling, therapy seeking, relationship breakup causing, anxiety producing, and worry is too damn much. However, it is the sort of protracted melodrama we've come to see too much of in  American  life. Everything is a potential doomsday event, every election is about good vs. evil.

I don’t know if it’s our non-reality based reality shows that have convinced us everything is so important. I mean Snooki’s every move is covered, then analyzed, and speculated about both on TV and in print. Snooki got a haircut today; Snooki met with her agent today, Snooki had a shit fit over the Gorgonzola cheese on her pizza today. In a normal world, Snooki would be a greasy, bloated, obnoxious trophy wife from New Jersey that no one ever heard of. We live in a society that makes Honey Boo Boo the next Siddhartha. Why do I even know the name Honey Boo Boo?  Maybe we just live in a country with so much excess that as a nation (in general) we are bored. Why else would tractor pull events have anyone attending them, why would anyone care which steroid freaked out wrestling star in spandex briefs might win the Final Showdown 10 event?

We find buckets full of melodrama in: day time soaps, nighttime TV, fake reality shows, lottery results, celebrity lives, and even in the economy (we are approaching yet another over the cliff moment aren't we)? Melodrama is in every damn thing we do as people. Ever listen to high school kids? They talk in terms of “all” as in: “I’m all about this or that.” “It’s all fun”, things are “totally”, “way bad” (not just bad), “Oh my god” as if it matters to your God if Billy Buffguy slept with Suzi Creamcheese. Every day is a drama filled day at the high school with sex-ting  social media bullying, and fingers blazing all day long on their cell phones. They may not be learning the significance of the Boston Massacre, Emancipation Proclamation or the Civil Rights Act but they do know that “Chiffon got a dress just like Tiffany and now OMG Tiffany is like totally, totally all pissed off and threatening to go totally Rambo on her”. I used to say to my classes, “You know why there is so much high school drama? It’s because school is boring. If school were exciting (which it could be and should be) you wouldn't have to invent your own excitement.  They laughed but they never said I was wrong.

I don’t know how our country devolved to this anxiety riddled, insomniac inducing soap opera but here we are. Living in a world where the average American cares more about who is going to win “Dancing With the Stars’ or how Chance will survive that back-stabbing Aimee on “Survivor, Oahu” than we do about how the laws were gutted to allow rich fuck’s like Sheldon Addlebrain to try and buy the election, or foreign countries being able to put money into American presidential campaigns. Too many Americans continue to be uninformed, unenthusiastic  and unconcerned with their own lack of civic responsibility to stop the demise of it all. 

Does it really matter that much who sits in the Presidential chair? When Obama won, the Republicans openly stated they would never work with him and their only goal would be to get him out. They held true to their word and with the exception of getting Bin Laden, and barely squeaking through his Obama Care Plan (remember they had to bribe the last voter, the Republican senator from Nebraska, Ben Nelson) to win by one vote, and a couple of deals like a compromise on the college loan repayment percentage not much has really gotten done. If Romney wins do you think the Democrats will welcome him with open arms?? No, they will surely announce that their goal will be to save Obama Care, get Romney out and we’ll have another 4 years of grid lock and partisan fighting.

When the system itself is broken, when the very people the system is supposed to be for could care less; when winning matters more than working together to solve problems then you tell me how much does it matter which frustrated man/woman is sitting in the Oval Office? When melodrama matters more to the average American than the truth, you get a nation of fat assed, glassy-eyed people working on their third quarter pounder, obsessing about what really happened to Michael Jackson on his last day instead of the fact that China is methodically, quietly buying up their country. By the time it’s too late, I wonder if these same average Americans will appreciate the bitter irony of the new owners having installed a teen aged Honey Boo Boo as Commissar of Culture.