And now random thoughts...

• I don't care what you think about steroid use and all the controversies surrounding baseball and other sports. But one thing I just don't understand. Why, if you make 25 million dollars per year, do you not have a personal "drug-bodyguard" that has the MLB drug policy handbook memorized, come with you everywhere you go? -- Manny Ramirez took some prescribed non-steroid, sexual enhancer substances that were banned by Major League Baseball because they can cause an increase in testosterone.
• Punishment vs. Education. I wonder sometimes if the citizens that want harsher penalties for breaking the law understand that sometimes people just don't know what the damn law is. For instance, a big push for harsher "distraction" penalties while driving is being discussed. What the hell is considered a "distraction" -- I hardly hear anyone say the blanket statement, "If you aren't looking ahead, at your mirrors, over your shoulder or at your gauges, then you are distracted." Instead of that sentence, we get all these confusing laws like, GPS devices are OK but only in the left front corner drivers side of the car (How is anyone supposed to know this law?), Cell phones are okay only with bluetooth, no texting, but typing a phone number is okay (How is a cop supposed to tell the difference? Stare at you for awhile? What if I keep typing the phone number wrong because I'm driving a damn car!) Personally you either make a blanket law...or you MUST educate the public and make it clear what the hell you want... Using government to punish (including first-time offenders) instead of educate does more harm than good.
• After watching the latest attack on Obama for using "elitist mustard" on his burger, I truly believe this will divide the Republican party more than Ron Paul ever could. This type ridiculousness is one of the reasons I left the party years ago. I truly wish Hannity and the like were only kidding, but they aren't and that's just sad... On a bloggier note: LYT from LYTrules says: "I guess after the last election they do have to play ketchup..."
• If Chinese, Vietnamese or Japansese do it to Americans, it's torture; if Americans do it to others, it's "harsh interrogation."
• Why does Jewel look like she's gagging when she sings? Perhaps even she can't stand her songs.
• Bill O'Reilly makes it very difficult to like him. Personally I think Bill can be genuinely funny at times, some of his shctick when he makes the late night rounds is pretty good. Then I watch "The Factor" and he turns into this arrogant, unfunny, winey, bigot, wannabe and I wonder if Fox News pushes him to be "entertaining"? Maybe if he gets a show on a cable station instead of a Fox News, then he can be more relaxed? Perhaps that show could be to the right, what Jon Stewart is to the left? But first he needs to rid himself of the stink that is Fox "news".
• Speaking of Fox. I grew up watching the fledging Fox channel, it had some of the best shows on Television: In Living Color, Married w/Children & The Simpsons to name a few. Whenever I turned to Fox, I knew I wouldn't be disappointed. Fox was like the default channel if nothing was on. Now, besides The Simpsons, Family Guy and American Dad , I rarely switch it to Fox. I'm not an American Idol fan since it turned into a soap opera and I watched "24" until it too, succumbed to soap opera style antics. Since alot of shows are popular on Fox, I must ask myself, are my tastes changing or is it the shows?
• "Since viruses, like swine flu, get to be potentially deadly because they "evolved," if you don't believe in evolution and you get it, you have to pray it away. You can't crap all over Darwin and stem cell research and global warming and then come crawling back to science when you want Tamiflu. That's for us sinners. And, by the way, intelligence-challenged members of the mainstream media, creationism and Darwinism are not "opposing but equally legitimate theories" to be treated as such. This flu virus didn't make the leap from pigs to humans because God felt like fucking with Mexicans. It happened because, like I said, viruses adapt to survive. Just like all other organisms on Planet Earth. With the possible exception of the Republican National Committee." - Bill Maher

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