Just another day: Black Friday

The glorious tryptophan haze of yesterday's feast has faded after a glorious night's sleep. No, I did not awake in the wee hours of a chilled morning to save twenty bucks on something I really don't need anyway. Been there. Done that. Not a tradition I long to further.

Here's some of the wackiness that's caught my eye of late.

• HICKVILLE. I live in a town of just over 100,000 folks. A small state school resides here, too. Despite the fact that Islamic nut-jobs have murdered over a hundred folks on the other side of the planet, our local paper covered it on page 9. Some of the stories that preceded it? Harvey Milk. Iraq voting on America's departure in three years. Oldest woman died. Planned Parenthood gift certificates. Police taser naked DUI suspect...in California. I don't live in California. But you wouldn't know it from my paper.


• BLACK FRIDAY grew blacker still. Seems some zealous, me-first shoppers trampled a New York Wal-Mart employee to death in their haste to get-what?- an iPod? Guitar Hero VII? Greed. No, Gordon Gecko, it's not good.
  


• BACK TO MUMBAI. The world cries out against "terror." Terror didn't kill 100+ folks in India. It was not what left none alive in the Mumbai Jewish Center. How much savvy is required to assemble this five-letter puzzle.? Here are those letters in no particular order. See if you can piece it together (I picked a color as close to blood red as I could find).
  

A-M-L-S-I

Here. Maybe this picture will help.

Does the tablecloth (hijab) give it away?

• SAVE THE PLANET. As if the enviro-cataclysmic obsessions weren't bad enough, some folks are asking the UN to develop a plan to deflect incoming asteroids. Sounds great in theory and on the silver-screen, but deflect an asteroid?!? Little ones are of no concern. They fry in the atmosphere. If it's big enough to get through the atmosphere and do some damage, it's too stinking big for anything we've got to nudge it out of the way (apologies to Bruce Willis and Morgan Freeman). Imagine Al Gore standing on the Mississippi River Delta holding up his large though not-quite-omnipotent hands trying to hold back Katrina. Can you say, "Absurd." Then there are these:
  


• Then the second angel sounded: And something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood. And a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed. (Revelation 8:8-9)


• Then the third angel sounded: And a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and it fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. The name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters became wormwood, and many men died from the water, because it was made bitter. (Revelation 8:10-11)


• NORTH & SOUTH. Of the border, that is. Things are goofy in Canada. It seems they don't know which way they want the country to go. The current government recognizes the economic crisis in which it finds itself and wants to decrease spending particularly toward political parties and government workers. The opposition threatens to dissolve the government. Just to the north.

In and around the Caribbean, just to our south, Russia continues to cozy-up to kooks like Castro and Chavez. JFK had the spine to stare down Khrushchev. Will Bush for a few more weeks and then Obama have the wherewithal to stand toe-to-toe with Medvedev and Putin as the Neo-Sovs begin to up the military ante in our own backyard? Maybe our leaders consider Russia a "nation of peace." Maybe their just looking to swap some Stoli for a few Havanas and a couple sacks of coffee. Maybe.

Until next time, enjoy your turkey sandwiches!