Some musing today as the world seems to bumpily roll along in spite of humans.
SUIT ME UP: Just saw a new story on TV that workers older than 40 now have the Supreme Court's OK to sue employers over policies that discriminate against them. Anybody around here quaking in their corporate boots? Probably not. Most companies think they are bulletproof and way too clever to be caught in anything slightly nefarious. They think they're lucky ducks -- they're probably quacking in their boots.
WHERE'S BOB? Why is it that the Simpson sisters, Jessica and Ashlee, can each have tedious home movie-style TV shows but neither of Bob Newhart's hit shows is available in re-runs on my cable system?
CLUBBING IT: There's a story on The Drudge Report today (www.drudgereport.com) about a blind golfer scoring a hole-in-one. Frankly, that's such a difficult thing to do that whether your sighted or not, it's an amazing feat and, pardon the phrase, probably just blind luck anyway.
EASTLAND IS CLOSER THAN YOU THINK: Coming back from West Texas last week on Interstate 20, I saw a billboard as we passed the exit for the little city of Eastland. It read "Eastland: 1 hour, 20 minutes from the Metroplex!"
Now, that's something to think about. I just looked at www.eastlandtexas.com and saw that the city is getting a Wal-Mart Super Center in October and that Wednesday night, the Chamber of Commerce is hosting a "hot check seminar." They may be closer to the Metroplex than they think.
Frankly, if I'd written that billboard it would have read "Eastland: 1 hour, 20 minutes AWAY from the Metroplex!" Some days being away from the Metroplex is better than being close to it.
BLESS THE BOY SCOUTS: This thing with the local Boy Scout executive and the porno thing really bugs me. I hate anything that soils the Boy Scouts. It's a good organization for youngsters and there are many, many fine and righteous people who have spent years of their lives being Den Mothers and Scoutmasters. Those folks should be honored -- and the people who mar the Scouts' image should be prosecuted.
No that this is a selling point, but I am a former Boy Scout, so I know what a kid can get out of a good Scout troop. I spent many happy years in Troop 22 in Texarkana.
To my knowledge the worst thing that happened in my years in Scouting was when one of our fellow Scouts, while playing hide-and-seek near midnight in the woods at Camp Preston Hunt, ran smack-dab into a barbed wire fence and did a cartoon "sproing" off the barbs flat onto his back. He’d still be dangling on the fence but he was wearing a late 1950s “car coat” with more stuffing than a Thanksgiving turkey. Being small-town boys, we marveled at the slight puncture wounds across our fellow Scout‘s chest (which was swelled with pride at having been wounded in the field). We treated him with our certified First Aid Merit Badge skills and got on with our lives. Our Scoutmaster monitored our work.
We were Scouts. We were prepared. None of us later went to medical school, though there are a couple of lawyers in the troop and at least one parks and wildlife naturalist.
Some of us were better Scouts than others -- some became Eagles, some of us settled for "Star" ranking. But we learned a good code of behavior (it enhanced the code we’d already learned at home). We also learned that it is good to help other people, that we need to be prepared and that manners are important (again, things we‘d already had beaten into our pea brains at home).
We learned other things, too, but I haven't been asked to start a campfire in years, or to tie a sheepshank, or to make a neckerchief slide out of a stick and a leather strap, or to track a bear through the forest.
But I still have my Boy Scout Handbook and if I need to track a bear or a bobcat or a family of skunks, I can quickly thumb through a refresher course. I also can't quite fit into my old Boy Scout uniform, but, I'm sure a good diet and exercise program would ... nah, I'll just buy a new one down at Big and Tall Scout Suits.
