Now THIS was a strange day of a string of many....

Journal rdewald's Journal: Now THIS was a strange day of a string of many.... 2

Journal by rdewald on Thursday October 12, 2006 @01:02AM

A plane crashed into an apartment building in Manhattan, about a mile from me, this afternoon (I was in Manhattan on 9/11/2001). Even though this ended up not being a dramatic and agressive violent attack, there were some weird common experiences.

First, how I heard the news. First the plane hit the west side, then it was a helicopter, then no, it was the east side. The 20th floor of an apartment building, no, more like the 40th floor, there's a guy dead on the ground, no, two guys.

We flipped into disaster mode at work even though we don't really have any assets in the area, just like 9/11. I couldn't get any of the local news websites to work, some of them were being weirdly re-routed. So, I began working the phones....

Then, the weirdest thing, it was Cory Lidle, Yankee's pitcher.

Now, what you non-New Yorkers don't know, if that the Yankee's have been THE topic of conversation since they so pitifully lost the division series. First, everyone wondered if Steinbrenner would fire Torre, then what about A-Rod? All of this focus is going on and then POW, Cory Lidle flies a plane into a building. More Yankee news? WTF? Is this planet Yankee?

Weird.

I've been surprised that the Alcoholic community has not come out enraged about Foley's de facto association of his drinking problem (if he has one) with his astonishly poor judgement in his sex life. Wait. Don't we all do that?

Well, actually I never have done anything really stupid in my sex life. All the stupid decisions I've made with regard to sex have to do with *not* making a move when I should have, and it wasn't drinking that held me back, it was *not* drinking.

Oh, Terry, if I had only been drunk that night....

So, once again, America, it's not the mismanagement, deceit and incompetence that bothers you, it's the sex. If politicians began taking vows of celibacy would that get them more votes? I'll bet it would if you could somehow make it believable. I'll bet a vow of celibacy would make the difference in any close election, particularly if you paired it with a pledge to discourage non-procreative sex as a political leader.

How different are we from radical Islamic fundamentalists again? I know, I know, but honestly, think about that. What's happening to humanity?

Congressman Foley was probably a pretty good choice for that subcommittee or whatever working on child sexual predators. Who better than someone who knows the face of that demon? I wouldn't have a clue how to go about inhibiting, detecting and obstructing sexual predators of children. I have no idea what they do.

Hastert is the clearest example since Jim Wright of a man who just wants to hold on to his power, a man who has lost sight of what public service means. I'm guessing the people in his district feel the same way--they'd rather have a powerful congressman than a less powerful man with a sense of shame. If that's the case, isn't that representative democracy?

Maybe that's the problem. We've elected our representatives instead of our aspirations.

You can't rely on the system to be good, people have to be good.

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