The 24-Hour News Cycle is Reaching New Lows

So, Mitt Romney was allegedly cocky and obnoxious as a teenager, prone to moments of cruelty to other teens.  Or, so says this flash-in-a-pan story.  My, my, the president's pronouncement of support in favor of same-sex marriages didn't even take a day to become too stale for the media cycle.  We've already moved on to the sophomoric behavior of a grown man back when he was, well, a sophomore. 

I guess I have something in common with both candidates for president.  Like the incumbent, my views on same-sex marriage have evolved.  Like the challenger, I regret some of the things I did as a youth. 

I guess that approximately 100 million other Americans could say the same thing. 

We've got two men of character running for the highest office in the land.  Both seem like principled human beings.  Both are family men, well-spoken, well-educated.  Why is there reluctance on the part of them, their advisers, or the media to move on from this silly side-show stuff and onto more substantive issues.  If the news cycle has stooped now to claiming that Mr. Romney was a bit of a brat in high school, I content that we have hit the law of diminishing returns of side-show character issues.  For the president and his challenger, can we just concede that there aren't really any instrumental issues of character and that, instead, there are important issues of vision, policy, and priorities that should dominate our national discourse? 

Okay, now this is amusing

So the History channel website had an interesting article on the five U.S. presidents who have taught school.  One of them was Lyndon Johnson.  On one hand, I could actually see that working.  I could see him being a very capable teacher.  But I can't help but chuckle at how he must have dealt with ornery senior high school students.  After all, he was famous for the "Johnson Treatment" (pictured below)

Farewell to another RINO

All I can say to this story is "sigh."  Not even a capital S for my sigh.

Politico Reports Lugar's Defeat

The fella had been there 36 years.  He had fallen out of touch with his constituents.  He was at one time a miserable candidate for president.

But he had sound credentials on foreign policy.  He had an impulse toward creating consensus and reaching across the aisle.

Just as it was for Arlen Specter, I guess it was time to go.  But what is replacing this generation of leadership in Washington?  What are their principles?  What is their calling card?  D or R, I just don't know.

I look at some of the successors to the venerable ones in the Senate and wonder what they've accomplished, independently or as a cohort.  I don't know if I can recognize anything worth mentioning. 

A Divine Sense of Humor

I do believe God has an amazing sense of humor.  Please accept as evidence this little tale . . .

I have a fund by which I save for fun purchases.  You know, toys for men in their mid-30s.  I've maintained this fund, building it through savings gimmicks, spending it, then building it again, since early 2006.  I've bought some neat stuff with it.  I pat myself on the back for my frugality, for buying items with cash rather than credit, for depriving myself of transient luxuries like beer or bourbon for loftier goals. 

Uncannily, each time I make a big purchase with it, an unexpected expense ambushes me right after I have depleted my savings.  My favorite such instance came after the purchase of the big-screen TV and Blu-Ray player I scrimped for and purchased back in 2009.  Within a week of paying for the TV, I was stopped by one of Upper Gwynedd's finest for doing 40 mph in a zone that called for only 25.  Oh, and shortly after that episode I lost my wedding ring. 

This trend continues.  Two weeks ago I purchased the computer on which I'm typing this post.  (A great system, by the way.)  And then . . .

• A bicycle belonging to my kids was stolen from the porch.  (Really quite sad.)  That'll be about $180 and a couple of broken hearts. 
• I punctured a tire on my automobile driving over an enormous bolt.  That'll be $200. 
• On the way back from shop where tire got fixed my recurring check engine light came on.  My hunch: catalytic converter.  If I'm right: four digits. 

Normally God's humbling moves come at a cost of half the price of the big-ticket item on which I just splurged.  The ticket and ring ended up being about $450 to replace; the TV and Blu-Ray about $900.  It looks like this most recent dose of humility will exceed my normal agreement with the Big Fella. 

These are funny things to muse on.  I have so much to be fortunate about.  I must if I'm trying to make light of it. 

Space

The last word from this week's The Week is worth a read.  It's a mournful commentary on the demise of America's space program.  It pushed me to wonder, how is America trying to grow right now?  What is our grand national project?  Is there any? 

We've always had a grand project.  Westward Expansion.  The Transcontinental Railroad.  The Panama Canal.  Saving the world from tyranny.  Space.  But what is it we're yearning to do today.  I really can't think of anything not having to do with preserving, maintaining, or elevating people's standard of living.  Noble, perhaps, but not grand.  I miss grand.

It's funny.  I have little time for science.  Chemistry, biology, physics never really have much of a hold over me.  Yet I'll drop a lot of things to look at the tales of our quest to the moon.  I miss something grand like that which captures my imagination and makes me temporarily overlook my biases against the world of math and science. 

Mindless Cross-Promotion

I moved a step closer to cutting the cord this weekend.  The introduction of a Roku player into the house has definitely made me more reluctant to watch anything on cable.  The offerings are too weak, the scheduling too rigid.  I'm just not getting much for my money there.  The saving grace had been Comcast Sportsnet.  That's no longer the case.

That station interrupted Saturday's sports highlights with a breakaway to the local NBC affiliate to get a weather forecast.  Ugh.  First of all, CSN's Toyota Sportsnight is so inundated with commercials I don't want to lose any additional minutes to something other than sports.  That is all the more true for a weather forecast that, if I wanted one, I could easily call up on my telephone. 

More importantly, they've entered the same cross-promotional hell that ESPN entered into years ago when I kicked them to the curb.  Congratulations, Comcast, on having acquired NBC.  Boffo for you!  But now are you obligated to juice the ratings for the local NBC station?  Are we now to be treated to advertisements for the latest shows on NBC primetime?  Will there now be crossovers to the Today show? 

Comcast Sportsnet might now have become just another station, just another part of a network that exists only to boost the numbers for the other parts of its corporate entity.  It now stands out less from the other stations, of which there are already way too many. 

Why do we still have it, the digital cable?  There's so much to read online and in print.  There is so much we can watch through Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon.  Why bother with a box that brings me channel after channel of sameness? 

I wonder if I can learn from this

Yesterday I saw a student depart.  I've known him since 2008.  I've known him to be troubled for some time.  Yesterday he withdrew from school.  Withdrew may as well be a euphemism for dropped out / kicked out.  With six weeks remaining until graduation, and no possibility of earning a passing grade in some critical courses, he withdrew.   

He exhibit some symptoms that made me think he's battling an addiction, which is sad, but a problem I'm unequipped to help.  For some reason, it's easy for me to say that this isn't a problem I can solve, I'll trust others (parents, counselors, administrators) to make an attempt at solving it.  They might succeed, they might fail.  I tolerate the ambiguity. 

Often I find it tempting to get too involved helping others solve problems.  Usually, others seek my help.  Sometimes I jump in because I think my help is desired.  And in the last months, I've gotten burned a few times helping in those situations. 

I think I made the right call gauging my involvement with that troubled child yesterday.  It's not a problem I can solve, aside from being a stable, honest, and caring adult who shows that he likes the child.  I need to apply this mentality to other situations so I can more wisely put my time and energies to use.