Blame Game Etc.

If I were to buy some drugs on the street corner, would I bear any responsibility for the drug-war deaths south of the border?  I’m not certain about this but I would probably have to say…yes.

So, a guy goes wacko and shoots a bunch of people down in Tucson. It just so happens that the sheriff blames the current slew of radio and television personalities and politicians for the killer’s state of mind.  By this logic, Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin and Rush “give me another burger” Limbaugh are guilty. 

Perhaps.

But if we are really honest with ourselves, I don’t think the buck stops there.  These guys wouldn’t be around if we didn’t pay attention to them; even if that attention was to criticize them.  I think we, or at least I, may have pulled on that trigger; at least just a very tiny bit.

I have a new New Years Resolution.  I am not going to pull any more triggers.  These guys are no longer part of my agenda.  That doesn’t mean “no more politics.”  It means no more references to these guys.  I have decided to be better than that.  Let’s see if I can make good on this one.

Onward to…Augusta, home of the masters and a regional airport named Bush Field. 

I once met Huey Lewis at this airport.  There were about five or six of us sitting in this tiny waiting room.  I go up to him and say, “You look just like Huey Lewis.”  Turns out he was.  We got on the same puddle jumper.  This was about ten years ago.  The airport is much nicer than it was back then.  Apparently, they just finished a remodel.

The only problem is that they forgot to put in a restaurant.  There is an indentation in one of the walls where you can buy food but the choices are sparse.  You can get a blueberry muffin wrapped in foil, or you can get a sandwich.  I went with the sandwich.  Bad call.  This turned out to be more of a loaf of bread with “meat essence.”  I knew there was meat in it because I could see it.  It’s just that the ratio of meat to bread was so distorted that if you closed your eyes and took a bite, you might think the meat had fallen to the floor.

I ditched the sandwich and ordered a pizza.  I figured if I’m going to take in that many carbs, it had better have some pizza sauce on it.  I had to order out for it.  The girl on the phone thought I was kidding when I asked for a large sausage pizza to be delivered to the Hertz rental counter at the airport. 

God bless you Papa Johns. 

Now granted, this wasn’t as good as Kimmy’s Chicago deep dish delicacy, but it beat the heck out of a loaf of bread with lipstick.

I was in Augusta to look at a plant that makes cookies.  That’s what I do.  My job is a lot like a high school field trip.  I watch how people make stuff and then suggest things they may want to do differently.  It could be cookies or tables or semiconductors.  People make stuff and I get to watch.

We were looking at a production line and I asked, “What do you make on this line.”  My guide answered, “Sugar cookies dipped in fudge.”  I am not kidding.  There is a god and he is making fudge covered sugar treats in Augusta, Georgia.

Now I’m on my way home.  I’m flying the only third world airline to operate in the United States.  The name on the tail says USAirways.  I can think of a lot more appropriate names.  In my office, we fly all the time and this is the one airline we try to avoid at all costs.  Imagine a plane that never takes off on time and has nothing inside but middle seats.

The guy in the seat next to me is watching Avatar.  I keep looking over, hoping to get a peak at the blue girl.  You guys out there know the one I’m talking about.

Right now, they are saving their world, which reminds me.  I have one of my own to save.

Up, up and away…

jim

Posted from 35,000 feet

Once again, I find myself blogging from an airplane.  There is something so absurd about so many aspects of air travel that I just can’t help myself.  For example, they just passed word, “It is absolutely illegal to gather in groups, anywhere on the airplane.”

What does that mean?  Are they afraid if too many people get together they will decide to form a rugby scrum and shuffle down the aisle in an attempt to take over the plane?  This makes as much sense to me as if they had said, “On this flight, there will be no reading the odd numbered pages in your book or magazine.”

Food will be served soon.  I have trained myself to eat anything placed in front of me on an airplane.  You never know; your next calorie may be 5,000 miles away.  And yes, I did pass on the Peanut M&M’s at the duty free shop – although I was tempted by a bag big enough to qualify as carry-on luggage.  I didn’t buy it for one reason: No matter how big the bag, it would have been empty by the time the plane landed.  You can eat a lot of M&Ms between Europe and the States.

I am also struck by how unembarrassed people are when crowding at an airport.  I usually call then out on this but the guy I picked to make a scene with turned out to have a wife with him.  I let him go with a glare that he never saw.

Europeans crowd even if the line is moving so fast they have to jog to stay up with it.  It has to be cultural since I never see any shame.  I challenged one guy the other day, not knowing if he spoke English or not.  He just smiled at me and nodded.  I half expected him to say, “No Coke, Pepsi,” like Bill Murray in the old Saturday Night Live skit (cheeseburgercheeseburgercheeseburger).

China has the same sort of “Lack of Shame.”  Their national telephone system is made up of phones identical to those used all over the world - All of them rip-offs.  On their website, they boast of an R&D department with “nearly twenty” research specialists.  This is exactly the same number of research specialists Seven-Eleven has working on their next Frozen-Burrito/Slurpy combo.  And yet, they have supposedly, independently developed the same phones that the rest of the world has. 

China recently bragged about the new 4G telephone system they have developed on their own.  What this means is that their crack team of researchers managed to pry of the label from a competitor's hardware and glue on one saying “Made in China.”  Ask them and they will tell you I am speaking the truth.  They see nothing wrong with this.

Here in the United States, we have the same sort of unbelievable behavior taking place at the highest levels.  For example, we have campaign contribution limits that are specifically designed to prevent corruption.  On the front page of the USA Today newspaper were listed 6 Republican presidential hopefuls that have found a way around this law.  It’s a loophole and thus legal.  I ask you this, if you find a loophole to do something that is deemed to be corruption, is it okay to do it?  Morally, I mean.

Here are the six Republicans that want your vote for president in 2012; Six Republicans that are dancing in the field of corruption simply because they found a missing comma in the law that allows them to do so without going to jail.  They are:  Haley Barbour, Mike Huckabee, Newt Gingrich, Sarah Palin, Tim Pawlenty and Mitt Romney. . 

The really bad news in this is that some of us will vote for them.

Alas…

Saving the world is getting to be a full time job.

Up, up and away…

jim