Random Acts of Journalism

I’m excited right now. Lot’s of good stuff going on. Lots to talk about. I’m typing at warp speed and none of my co-workers are any more the weary. They think i’m working hard. Ha!

• In sports, the Suns spent their 15th pick last night drafting Sideshow Bob!

• And this kid had a tough night.

• In other news, scientists are placing 2 to 1 odds on the North Pole melting completely this summer. Awesome.

• If you read this story, and look at this woman’s picture, you find yourself saying, “Yup. That woman looks like a big enough bitch to OWN SLAVES.”

• This “Obama is a Muslim” conversation is killing me. It’s insane. It’s mind-numbing. And there is no winner. If he tries to distance himself from any type of Muslim ties – perceived or otherwise — then the media is going to rake him from being anti-Muslim (a hypocritical action, to be sure)…but if he embraces anything Muslim or is even pictured near Muslim people, then i’ll get 8 Forwards from my father and his friends claiming that Obama wants to turn America into an Islamic country and open an Al-Qaeda training camp on the White House lawn…and there are millions of people (10% according to polls) much dumber than me that will totally believe it. It’s absolutely terrifying the lengths that this country will go to to ignore important things and focus on the inane. And don’t blame the media, blame yourself. The media shows you exactly what you ask them to see. It’s your fault. Take some responsibility.

• There is a great conversation going on over at Nole’s blog about some recent Supreme Court decisions concerning gun control and the death penalty. Surprisingly, I’m torn on these issues. I am against the government deciding that we shouldn’t have guns while they get to keep a firm grip on theirs, and i’m also uncomfortable with any politician deciding who should live or die. But as i said in my comment to Nole’s post — if he ever approves it — anybody who rapes a kid should die. Sorry if that’s a mixed message, but seriously, i’m not kidding. In one case that they reviewed, the guy raped his 8-year old step daughter so brutally that he almost killed her. Because doctors were able to save her, the guy can’t be given the death penalty…if she had died (and for much of that experience she probably wished that she had), we could have fried the fucker. How is that justice? How is that right? This guy should have been put on his knees and executed on the spot. No mercy. No trial. No chance to work the system, make a lawyer rich or waste tax-payer money. You raped an 8 year old, fuck you, die. I understand that there have been numerous murder and rape cases overturned years later by DNA evidence, etc. but what would be the harm in making the rape or sexual exploitation of a child so unbelievably taboo and the punishment so amazingly immediate and harsh in our society that no person would ever think of putting themselves anywhere near the situation? What would be the harm in that? And furthermore, what is the benefit of keeping someone who would do such a thing alive? How does that benefit anyone but the guy who did it? I don’t advocate death or speak in absolutes that often, but if someone rapes a kid, in my mind, they have given up their right to enjoy a heart beat.

• Moving right along to other enjoyable and positive topics…remember that bee thing – Colony Collapse Disorder — that we were talking about a year ago? Well yeah, it hasn’t gone away or gotten any better. And in a final homage to George Carlin this week, i bet if instead of calling it something sterile and scientific sounding like Colony Collapse Disorder, they called it “Holy Fucking Shit! The bees are dying and we’re all going to fucking starve to death!” i bet more people would pay attention. Just a thought.