Today should have been a good day. And on the surface it was, even though the rain put a crimp on me playing golf again for the second time this holiday weekend. (Did get in 9 holes before the deluge started up again….but, I’ve played better…..). Took the S.O. to see “Valiant” as if a cartoon movie comes to town, there is no way I can get away without seeing it(S.O. drags me to every one). Ok movie, good mindless entertainment, but Shrek ( or even Shrek 2) its not. I’m in cranky mood and its going to be a few days before I snap out of it, more than a few if the S.O. keeps complaining about my trips back to the refrigerator for another beer to dull the pain………
As an aside, John Daly lost. To Tiger Woods, the golfing machine. John Daly is for me, the face of the everyman golfer. He’s my kind of golfer. Married four times, likes his beer, plays his own game, and makes the same mistakes “real” golfers make. Like missing a 3 foot putt that cost him the tournament. This was after shooting a 69, but missing two birdie putts that would have put it away. One of those putts just grazed the cup:
It was a titanic struggle that ended with a whimper.
Despite their 350-yard tee shots that soared majestically against the blue sky over Lake Merced, the American Express Championship came down to a putt that
would have been a gimme on most municipal golf courses.Daly, who seconds earlier had a 15-foot birdie putt to win, missed a 3-footer for par on the second extra hole to hand Woods his 10th title in the World Golf Championships.
“That’s not how you’re supposed to win a golf tournament,” Woods said. “We’re in a playoff, we’re battling, and J.D. played beautifully all week. It shouldn’t end like that.” It was a somber conclusion to an otherwise spectacular
tournament at San Francisco’s municipal gem.
I’m in a funk and have been for the last couple of days. The S.O. has tried to ascertain it, I’ve just blown her off. Its not something she can help with, much less solve. ( In fact, her presence simply aggravates my mood since the weight of having her involved in life decisions I need to make, is part of my ill humor……). If I had the time and the vacation, I would get on a plane to anyplace and go away for a while all by myself, but for the present at least that is not on the table.
I’m sure you have noticed its affected my blogging. I’ve tried to write something pithy and worthwhile, but I just don’t have the words within me. Plus, surveying world events and the news, does not leave me any cause for good cheer either. Earthquake in Pakistan, the war ( pick any one of the four that America is involved in…..), being bombarded nightly by the prospect of Avian flu killing millions, possibly even me, and as a bonus until that happens, I get to read about more of the buffoonry that is politics in today’s America.
I’m also frustrated with my writing. I can’t write with same serious sense of self importance like Lex does, nor can I seem to find that irreverent sense of balance between the absurd and the important that Expat at Large seems to pull off effortlessly. I can’t lower myself to the rabid partisan banter that so many of the right wing blogs stoop to, and I am not prepared to write the stirring ” Look at all the good news in Iraq” stories that so many of other mil bloggers are able to do. The war in Iraq represents a running sore in the national security interests of the United States and to be honest the only good news for me from that Godforsaken country is anything that hastens the return of American troops for good. I’m sure a lot is being done to benefit ordinary Iraqis. In fact I know it is. However in this case, I cannot escape the conclusion that what is good for KBR GM is not necessarily good for America.
It does not mean I have shut down entirely however. I’ve been working on a long post about Japan / American relations that is intending to suggest that all is not as well as it appears to be. More research is required however and this kind of thing needs a long critical look over, before I punish you folks with my conclusions. Its going to come but, like good wine, I’ll not serve it up before its time.
I’ve also been active in an e-mail discussion about the religious discrimination law suit that has been going on involving the United States Air Force Academy. It started with a member of our e-mail list being baffled as to why the USAFA, after 3 years of negative publicity is still the subject of lawsuits on the subject. My reply :
I have a slightly different take on the situation. There have been evangelical Christians on the campus of the USAF academy since its founding. The difference today, however, is that the evangelism has become more aggressive and also intolerant of other viewpoints. For that we have the evolution of the fundamentalist parts of the Christian church to blame and its misguided efforts to delve into partisan politics; with a lot more success than it deserves. The end result is that the folks who taught the young cadets where the proper boundaries of witnessing lay, mis-taught their young charges. So who is to blame? The teacher or the student who listened to the misguided lesson of the person telling him what the word of the Lord required..? I say the teachers of that type of intolerant theology are to blame, some of whom were no doubt on the chapel staff of the Academy and enabled by a Commandant who could not see the clear conflict between his deeply held beliefs and the requirements of the constitution and military law and custom.
That leads us to the second problem. Those who might have spoken up against this excursion into reactionaryville, were most probably afraid to do so. After all, those who spoke out against other misguided changes were pilloried including those who spoke out against the feminization of the academy life and the resultant dilution of the value of the experience. The inability to speak up and have meaningful dialogue, e.g. the “get on the bus or be run over by it syndrome” prevalent since Tailhook, I submit added to the ability for things to get out of hand.
I have a hard time believing it was anymore endemic than at say, Clemson or USC, BUT at either of those institutions the ability to avoid ranting lunatics is much easier. Not so at the USAFA.
Lets see, I’ve hit politics and religion, all that is left on the list of “do not discuss” subjects is women. Not to worry, I’ll talk about them another time.
Hey Skippy! I’m only 15 and I’ll make more money this year
than you will your entire life! What’s not to be depressed about?
GRRRRRRRR!!!!! Wonder if I can take Prozac……………….?
