Crumpled Notebook

So, a week or so ago, I made up my mind about who to vote for since it was becoming ever more apparent that my first choice, John Edwards (whom I also supported in the last primary election), wasn’t quiet going to make it. This week, I started questioning the “why” of why I made my decision. Went back to my, “I don’t know” thing. What I really wanted was for John Edwards to make an endorsement of either Hillary of Obama so I didn’t have to make a decision myself. I don’t think that is going to happen. At any rate, after going back and for and back and forth and back and forth, etc… I think I have decided, although I plan to just turn in my mail ballot on Tuesday so I have a few more days to sit with it. Right now, I’m feeling good about it.

I’ll tell you who I (plan to) support after Tuesday. What I do feel good about is that 3 of the 5 (4 major) candidates left, I think I would be okay with. At least more okay than I am now. But, I’d rather be a little more than “just okay” with our next president. For the record, I would be “okay” with Hillary, Obama, or McCain. Huckabee just scares me (although I think he’s falling to the wayside), and after doing some research today, Romney scares me even more.

Okay, I’m going to admit something a little embarrassing. Embarrassing only because it’s not “cool” for a grown-up to be all up on this stuff, but oh well.

So I’ve been kind of following this Britney Spears stuff. I made the mistake of going to TMZ website one day and have been addicted since. But addicted in a bad way. Like, initially, it let to random rants of how there are no “real” journalist anymore and that someone, some media agency that matters, needs to recognize that and start putting ethics down. Stop paying tons of money for Britney Spears or Brad Pitt photos and maybe, just maybe people will leave them alone, at least more than they do now. Anyway, that’s a rant for another day. We’re talking about Britney here.

So, I’m all enthralled in what is going on. Not because I’m a fan but because it’s just so sad to me. Like, here is this girl, who we’ve all seen grow up, make some good choices, and some bad ones, who is crying out for help, and yet, for whatever reason, it’s not there. Sure, she probably doesn’t want it, but it’s almost like a wake-up call for our country. Here is someone who can have anything she wants, and the people close to her, that love here, still can’t get her the help she needs. It just emphasizes that it’s never easy in those situations…even if you are Britney Spears, or Britney’s family.

But alas, here’s what I wanted to share mostly. Tuesday night I was sitting here. Not doing anything in particular, and I started thinking about all this drama. I immediately check out to see what is going on at that particular hour in her life (cause TMZ has it all very documented) because I just feel this urge to. It wasn’t anything spectacular, at least for her. But afterwards I felt this immediate sense of urgency to pray for her. So I did. I felt a little weird praying for this celebrity. After all, who am I to her? But I did it anyway. I prayed for just a Godly intervention to get her the help she needs.

So anyway, apparently she was taken to the hospital again last night. Voluntarily from what I read. Not to say that it wasn’t coming, but it made me feel better at least. It made me feel like just maybe, my crazy sense of urgency to pray for this person may have made a difference. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one though.

Maybe there is something bigger here we don’t see. I mean, last week, when you read about the big “celebrity death”…you were probably thinking Britney, or Amy Winehouse, right? I know I certainly was. “Hollywood mourns Ledger’s death” didn’t quiet click with me first. My first thought was,”whoa, didn’t see that one coming.” Not to say people shouldn’t have. But I don’t know all that much about that one, since following this celebrity stuff is not something I normally do.

I just think instead of waiting on Britney to die and that “pre-written AP obit“, we should just be praying for her. Or, if you don’t pray, then sending happy thoughts her way. Seriously, this is re-motivated me for my rant on ethics in journalism.

This has bugged me for a while, and since I’ve been inspired to write more lately, I’m going to say it publicly.

Doesn’t Congress and Senator George Mitchell have anything better to do than worry about baseball? As one friend says, “it’s ridiculous that they’re even involved.”

I don’t think I’m the only person who feels this way either.

I guess maybe I could be wrong. I guess maybe I was always taught that our government, our congress, legislators, and President’s job was to look out for the welfare of the country. You know, things like, a thriving economy, peace with other countries, taking care of those who need help, making sure every child has a proper education, and making sure Americans get proper health care, just to name some more obvious ones.

But it seems, at least lately, Senator Mitchell has made baseball his only agenda. Yes, baseball players using and abusing steroids is not good for baseball, but come on, in the grand scheme of things, where does that rank on the priorities of our country? Is there any presidential candidate running on the platform that MLB needs to crackdown on steroid use in baseball? Is that on the list of questions of issues that are important to the people who live in the country? The answer is NO.

So I ask, why are you, Senator Mitchell, wasting my tax dollars on something that I, and most Americans, already know? Shouldn’t MLB be allowed to govern itself? Since using steroids illegally is a crime, shouldn’t law enforcement just be cracking down? I’m just saying, it would be like my city council coming in and investigating our high school sports teams here are drinking too much gatorade, or practicing in the off-season, or even using steroids. That doesn’t happen. If a coach, school official, or police officer suspects that, they’ll do something about it. Not our city council or mayor or anything like that. And if they did, I would still say it was ridiculous.

Sure, maybe MLB should have done a better job of monitoring it. Maybe the coaches and trainers and team mates should have taken some responsibility. Why aren’t you investigating Bud Selig for not doing his job if you care that much? If you have to go in an investigate the coaches and players under him, should that say that he hasn’t been doing his job and should just be fired? My opinion is that he never cared until the government started caring. Why would he? You have records being broken…something that gave baseball it’s first breath of life in I don’t know how many years. And all of that happening under baseball commissioner Bud Selig. Now he’s playing “hard” and cracking down. He should be. He should have been all along because there of course is steroid use in baseball. There still is. And there was even before Congress decided to make it its mission to strip any record-breaking baseball player of their credibility, whether it’s true or not.

Maybe the Babe never used steroids. Maybe he did. Maybe there was something else he used. The fact is, people have been cheating in baseball, and probably every other sport, since the inception of the game. It doesn’t make it right, but it also doesn’t make it a matter of national security either. If Barry Bonds or Roger Clemens took steroids, and you busted them for it, is that going to help my future children have a good education? Is that going to ensure that when they retire, they have social security there (or when I retire for that matter)? Is that going to help ensure my mom gets the medication she needs just so she can get out of bed and get up and move around? Is that going to help find a cure for cancer or Parkinson’s disease? This that going to make sure that we don’t go into another recession during the Bush administration? This that going to bring peace in the middle east and our troops home safely? Reduce crime rate? Get drugs off the streets? Boost our economy?

No. It’s not. You, Senator Mitchell, and anyone else in Congress who helped with this witch hunt, should be ashamed of yourself for wasting not only tax payers dollars, but more importantly, your time. That time that we elected you to be looking our for “our” best interest and the best interest of our country, not the best interest of America’s Pastime.

Why people believe weird things about money

It’s a good day for Democrats, or at least anyone kind of tired of politics we’ve been subjected to the past 4–6 years.

Not that I’m anti-Republican. I’m not. I even voted for Arnold. Yep, I’ll tell you that and have no problems with saying it.

I’m just saying that something obviously hasn’t been working, so a change is a breath of fresh air.