Monday Musings...
So...big Oscar night last night. Big deal.
Rather than force myself to endure that event (in spite of the fact that Hugh Jackman hosted), I opted to watch some "tamer" fare, such as PATTON (on AMC, unfortunately edited and with commercials), starring George C. Scott.
Come to think of it, I watched more Oscar-worthy movies in the past WEEK, than has been seen in the theatres over the last several YEARS.
And I have to admit, the acting was a helluva lot better.
But, that was THEN, and this is NOW, right?
Still, we've more important fish to fry these days...
Take the "stimulus package" (please, and dump it far offshore). Now it's bad enough that we're going to get the shaft for generations to come,but here comes another "master plan" designed to HALVE America's deficit in several years.
Please, I haven't stopped laughing from being "stimulated" yet...
If our President can pull this off without flushing the nation down the toilet, good for him.
But I've never seen any amount of crap yet that will make itself go away any time soon.
Sunday's paper (J/G) had a few good articles in it.
**The first one stated that BURGLARIES are UP in our fair mini-metropolis, but more cases are being solved.
Well, that goes a long way to recover the items stolen when we lived at Willow Creek Crossing, or getting my tool box back that was stolen from our garage over 10 years ago, doesn't it?
Part of the claim regarding the RISE in burglaries is (naturally) pinned on...(all together gang)...THE ECONOMY.
I take exception to that.
Criminals burglarize others JUST AS MUCH, if not MORE when the "economy" is THRIVING.
Why's that, you say?
Simple...people have MORE SH*T TO STEAL.
So why do criminals burglarize others when the economy is BAD?
Because they CAN (they need the practice), and besides, there are those people that DO keep "sh*t worth stealing", even in bad times.
I'd contend that the MAIN reason burglaries have seen an increase is the fact that we simply have MORE BURGLARS around to "share the wealth".
It doesn't get any simpler than that.
And if you have a burglary "ring", even more so, especially if they came into town from somewhere else.
**The second article dealt with Captain Sullenberger and the mindset that pilots like him have.
It speaks to the fact that having military-trained "risk-takers" is more advantageous when something comes sailing in from left field, unexpectedly.
And the incident with Captain Sully's flight was one of those one-in-a-million happenings.
Let's face it, if you've been in some type of combat situation, and made decisions which others did not, could not, or would not, and turned a bad scenario around into something a LOT more "happy-ending" oriented, that says a lot for a person...and their training.
Give me an ex-military pilot at the controls of MY airliner... ANY DAY.
**And speaking of newspapers...
The Philadelphia Inquirer has filed for bankruptcy!
Yeah, I spent MANY a morning cup of coffee pouring over their pages.
And the Philadelphia Daily News is doing likewise.
Funny thing, Philly used to enjoy THREE (count 'em...3) papers at one time.
You had the Inquirer in the AM.
The daily News around NOON.
And the Evening Bulletin published around late afternoon.
News...all the time, and it was nice to get all three for LESS than the cost of ONE Journal-Gazette here in Fort Wayne!
The original Evening Bulletin shut down the presses back on 29 January, 1982.
The name was bought in 2004 by a conservative publisher and the Bulletin was "reborn".
The archive clippings from the first incarnation of the paper are now stored in the Temple University libraries (over 500,000 pieces).
The inquirer was once touted as the nations' OLDEST surviving daily newspaper. It was founded back in 1829 (as the Pennsylvania Inquirer).
Between 1975 - 1990 the paper won SEVENTEEN Pulitzers, and more journalism awards than ANY other paper in the United States.
Not bad for the "Land of Rocky", eh?
Be a shame to lose this treasure, that's for sure.
Lastly, getting back to OUR newspaper (the Journal Gazette), here's a link to a little gem from back on 21 Feb:
http://www.journalgazette.net/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090221/LOCAL/302219982
Sorry, Benny, but you must live in DIFFERENT Fort Wayne from the one I reside in. You see, we STILL have branches ALL OVER OUR STREETS (due to drugged and drunk lazy-ass section 8 renters mostly), but you probably don't bother to come down HERE, do you?
A bit scared, I'd wager.
S'OK...we never get the REAL story told down here anyway. I'm used to it.
Too many streets of the SE side of town have branches all over properties, blocking sidewalks, lying about, and make the whole place look a lot less like YOUR neighborhood, Benny-Boy!
Betcha ALL YOUR NEIGHBORS had their branches cleaned away within a week.
We were about the ONLY people to do likewise around HERE...must be that "white-home-ownership-pride, not afraid to take responsibility for one's property, and set an example for others" thing rearing it's nasty head again, right?
Mr. (King Henry) Mayor might get a nasty-gram from me real soon, if he (and the city departments) even begin to "think" they're finished cleaning up OUR part of the city, when it comes to branch removal.
And if the people have NOT placed their branches at the curbside, then, by ALL means, CITE the frigging HELL OUT OF THEM. Maybe that will get them to MOVE the hell away.
Well, I guess I can't expect much from a city administration that tolerates people (read acoustically-challenged morons) driving boomcars all over that look like a rolling ad for a Monopoly game...or a Pepsi can...or McDs, can I?
After all...it IS a MONDAY...and it IS...Fort Wayne.
Can we stand the strain?