One Piece Of Good News And Then A Whole Bunch Of Stuff That Pisses Me Off

First, the good news: Last night, I was on the winning side of a softball game. The Linwood Flames won, 10 - 7, behind the crafty pitching of 78-year-old Bobby Ridley.

Yes, 78.

The way I treat my body in general, I don't expect to even be alive by the time I should be 78. Bobby went out and threw a decent game, drove in at least one run (I don't have the scoresheet in front of me, but I know he drew a bases-loaded walk at one point - I was coaching first at the time, so I remember that) and generally made the rest of us ashamed to ever complain about age-related crap.

The team we beat was the one directly behind us in the standings. So, as bad as our record to this point has been, we put some cushion between us and them. We now have a two game lead for the last playoff position in my weekday league.

And there was much rejoicing.

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OK, this morning I'm watching Fox 25 news. That was my first mistake.

Understand that I almost never watch the news. I used to watch the news a lot, when I was more heavily involved in politics, but since then I've assiduously avoided it. MY WIFE and I were watching the news one time and I started griping about something they just reported, as was (and is) my wont. She said, "You know, you really shouldn't watch the news if all it does is make you mad."

She was absolutely right. I was becoming less-and-less involved in politics (a conscious decision on my part) so I probably wasn't going to be doing anything to affect whatever I was griping about, so why gripe? All it would do was piss off whoever I was with and maybe give me an ulcer to boot. So, I stopped watching the news unless I caught wind of some huge story - such as yesterday's tunnel incident.

This morning, I had only turned on the TV to set up the VCR to tape something tonight. However, there was the news and sitting there discussing the tunnel were two political analysts (read: partisan bags of shit) and the anchor (read: somewhat vapid, but nice to look at and can read a sentence without stumbling.)

I (read: opinionated and prone to snap judgments, just covering my ass in case she actually isn't vapid, but the other two are still bags of shit) was mortified to hear these two... what's the phrase I'm looking for? Oh, yes... bags of shit... were discussing whether or not Governor Mitt Romney had handled the situation correctly.

It might have been a legitimate question, but it was being asked of the wrong people. As is often the case on news shows these days, the people giving opinions were partisan political analysts; one a democrat and the other a republican. As is always the case when that is the case, one crucified the republican and the other thought the republican was God's gift to humanity.

What the fuck do we ever learn by listening to these people, aside from the fact that they are partisan spin doctors who would take Hitler's side if he were from their political party?

You want real opinions? Go to someone utterly unconnected to the situation and who doesn't stand to profit in any way. Don't give airtime to two gasbags looking to perpetuate the status quo.

(Republican or democrat, it doesn't matter. They are both looking to perpetuate the status quo, because the status quo is either a republican or democrat administration and legislature. There are differences in their approaches to social problems, but the bottom line is the same: government can handle it best and we want to be the government.)

Try bringing in a Libertarian analyst, a Green analyst, or - better yet - someone with no ties whatsoever to any political party. You'll get a fresh perspective and some truth, instead of spin.

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Well, that's enough, I suppose. The rest of the stuff that pisses me off is so minor in comparison that I'm not going to bother with it now. I'll save it for tomorrow or the next day.

Now you have something to look forward to...