Bits & Pieces
Bits and pieces from this reporter's notebook.
Da-deet-da-deet-da-deet-deet....I think Congress probably lamed out on the airport security measure, mostly because of the politics of the Democrats thinking that the 28,000 new federalized scanners would be appreciative at the polls, while the Republicans were afraid that was true. In any event, they're gonna pay $30,000 a year to these people, which borders on obscene. Do they really think that federalizing these marginally-competent clerks is gonna make a single person safer? Ya gotta doubt it. I do like that they are requiring that people who take these jobs be citizens of the good-ole USofA, which is a problem for 80% of the scanners today at SFO, who are mostly Filipino. They were so unhappy that they talked about a work stoppage on the Sunday after Thanksgiving, traditionally the busiest travel day of the year. They didn't, but had they, I would have deported the lot. Why not require that people who live here become citizens after a reasonable period of time, or leave? Especially people being paid with tax dollars. Don't just come here to suckle on our economy and mail the money out of the country. The United States of America is about opportunity and obligation. And let's require that people learn how to speak our language, too. Yes, celebrate their culture, but put ours first.
Da-deet-da-deet-da-deet-deet....Speaking of travel, coming up the Interstate the other night,
marking progress exit by exit, spotting the ubiquitous chain signs for gas-food-'n-lodging; it should probably be gas after food. Not that I don't stop in every so often for a fast bite of ersatz food, feeling like I'm fueling my own tank, pumping a human equivalent of a petroleum product into my yawning maw. I never go to Denny's, on principle, and ignore principle when I stop in at the burger joints. I'm there to run and eat. I wonder if the people who make such places a habit realize how much of their money goes not to the food, or even the service — and I use the term mostly loosely — but is hugely squandered on advertising.
Da-deet-da-deet-da-deet-deet....Speaking of crass self-aggrandizement, the television program "LawN-Order" is being promoted in that unfathomably-popular trashy male grinding rasp; "ripped from the headlines," he intones aggressively. And because television always has to be bigger and hotter and closer to hell than the last ridiculous promotion, we recently heard, "A case can't be more ripped than this." No, and it probably helps to be ripped when you write such rancidity.
Da-deet-da-deet-da-deet-deet....Finally, George Harrison is gone, and in fits of typical excess, the news media and radio stations went overboard again. They don't seem to be able to do it any other way. I had great appreciation for the man and his work. He produced well, performed well, lived mostly his own life, and did so with dignity. But CBS spent more than two-and-a-half minutes of their radio newscast on the story, that was too much. Or so I thought, until the announcer said, "Goodbye, George. Godspeed." Shameful. A local music station which played Harrison's music on occasion played nothing but his work for three days. It would have made more sense to play two spots an hour for the weekend. It would have shown more and due respect.
And that's SetonnoteS...I'm Tony Seton.
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