When Things Go Wrong

I sat and watched four different news episodes this morning of the meeting between Netanyahu and the President.  The video clips of them sitting there speaks volumes.  The first two minutes, there was a fair comfort level for the President, but you could tell it was draining away.

As Netanyahu went into his lecture, it was then painfully obvious that the President wasn't very happy and must have been expecting some other comment or less than a comment.

This ninety-odd minute lecture given by the Israeli Prime Minister was probably one of those episodes that you'd really prefer to avoid.  Then you have to ask who in the State Department ever gave this advice about the 1967 border line episode.  My guess....no one from the State Department would have been this silly unless they were two years out of Harvard or Princeton.  The top levels of the State Department would have stopped such commentary quickly.

So my best guess is that the President got this 1967 advice from someone who is a "friend" of the White House.  There are around 200 folks who have bought and snuggled their way into being a "friend" of the President.  They get a chance to speak with him at lunches or weekend retreats.  One would guess that this got put on the President's plate, and he just told his inner circle that this was going to be US policy, no matter what.  They turned to the speech-writer and had a speech drafted up like this.  The State Department likely sat there in shock but figured that the President must know something that they don't.

At the conclusion of this meeting....the President likely went into the Oval Office for thirty minutes....took a fair dose of asprin for his headache, and grumbled about how stupid this 1967 border advice was.  The "friend"?  Well....my guess is that he's been quietly removed from the guest list by today, and wondering why this was stupid to suggest.

Speeches over the Middle East again?  No.....even if the President is around after 2012....one must speculate that you won't hear any real Middle East speech again.  He'll talk about Asia, Honduras, General Motors, and possibly even space travel.....but I think you've heard the last of any chat over the Israel situation.

Maybe Just a Label

My associate at work and I....got into a discussion today.  He'd been out over the past week and attending a social event within his church.  He's a church elder and dispenses advice on occasion.  So a young lady from the church who is a Georgetown college individual came up for a chat.  She's finishing up her degree in social work....and just wanted his impressions.

He sat and mostly listened.  She has spent almost four years at Georgetown, which costs a ton of money.  She's borrowed and will have to spend at least ten years paying off this significant amount of money (likely over $80k).  He sat there in total amazement....for a degree in social work....you could have done this at some state-level college (without any name value) and likely borrowed $40k maximum.

My associate kindly pointed this out....you will spend a whole decade of your life....working toward paying for this degree.  In her logical mind....the name value of Georgetown made this worth the effort.

I sat and pondered over this.  The thing is....the only places in America where she can get a starting salary of $45k for her field work....is DC, New York, and probably LA.  Philly, Chicago, Boston, and Miami would be a step down.....maybe a $1k less.  But in eighty percent of America....your starting salary for a social worker would be roughly $28k.  She's going to be anchored to the DC for the rest of her life.

The positives?  She has name value and she has connections.  As some former college buddy gives her a name and possible position....she'll use her connections and degree from Georgetown to sidestep things.....and maybe by age 45....she might be making $80k as a social worker.  In most of America....you'd kinda max out at $45k.

Maybe there is a logic to this game.  Maybe she will eventually pay off the degree and by age fifty....be successful with the Georgetown label.  The curious thing for me.....forty years ago, anybody with a year or two of college could be a social worker....even with a degree in physical education.  We've specialized this field to the extent that colleges now see a great moment to entice you to spend $80k that you don't have.....just to become something....that you might not be sure of.

Only in America.

A Long Pause

It was a curious thing to note today.  Down at LSU....in Louisiana...the campus had a bit of excitement today.  Some guy (Graduate communications student Benjamin Haas) had decided that a US flag had to be burned to say something personal about the killing of bin Laden and the evil American government.

Unlike situations that occur in California....this is Louisiana, where I spent three years of my life.  Flag burning...at any campus in the state....is generally not tolerated very well.

The school had given Haas permission to burn the flag....but since he lacked a burn permit.....a key factor in a state that has grass fires left and right during leaf season....he was told burning wasn't going to be allowed by the local county.

Then a problem came up with students who eventually decided to chase the flag burner dude...even with campus security around him.  Things didn't go well....as kids shouted: "USA, USA".

At this point of reading up on the event....I kinda stopped and paused.

It's a strange thought process.  When it comes to flag burning....you just don't see IHOP managers, Dairy Queen employees, 7-11 guys, folks on welfare, folks who get food stamps, or roofers ever attempting to burn a flag.

So I continued on with this thought process.  I've never seen a guy who was a Ford mechanic, or a guy who fixed lawn mowers, or a gal who was a beautician.....who might be willing to burn a flag.

In fact.....I came to realize that it's generally always college students from fancy colleges....not technical colleges or community colleges.  You'd never see some 1st year student at a Bible College doing something like this.  You wouldn't see an electrical engineer doing something like this.

Generally, the flag burners are all punks who settled in for a four-year degree deal....without much engineering tied to their degree.  If it was....they'd be asking themselves questions....which the other flag burners would hate.

In the entire history of America....I doubt if a single septic tank salesman has ever burned a single flag.  The same could be said for farmers, diesel mechanics, and blacksmiths.

This might leave you with a long pause in thinking....if you got that point of wondering about things.

Just something to think about.

Fall is in the Air

This week....barely making any notice in the papers after bin Laden and various four-star news....there's this one piece....the federal government sent a letter to the BCS bowl boys, and asked directly why no play-off situation is utilized.

Naturally, the head guy of the BCS bowl boys responded in an direct manner....why would the federal government care?

For anybody from Bama.....this is a sore topic of sorts.  On any given day in November....at least one out of every five Bama guys is openly talking about the bowl selection process and this ranks in the top three topics of the day.

This federal letter came from the Justice Department, and hints of antitrust laws.  The problem for the BCS folks....is that almost every other sport within college sports.....allows for some kind of play-off situation.  The Justice Department is likely moving toward a confrontation.

The problem here is that you've got 34 bowl games now organized, and another two about to be created (the Cure Bowl out in Orlando, FL and the Christmas Bowl out in LA).

This was real simple back when there were ten bowls (up until 1970).  Then folks started to add various bowls and confuse folks.  Today, you have very marginal teams which get invited to play in the Music City Bowl (in Nashville of course).

You've got thirty-four cities which have a money-maker and know precisely about profits and the influence of forty thousand folks arriving from five states away to play in some half-ass marginal Independence Bowl in Shreveport, Louisiana.  None of these thirty-four cities want the federal government involved in this mess.  In their mind....it's bad enough as it exists right now.

A playoff system?  You could have some #3-ranked Bama team in the first round....meeting up in San Diego against a #8-ranked team.....and getting beat in the first round.  You could actually end up with the #3-ranked team playing the #12-ranked team for the national championship.  The comical thing is that you'd spread this out over six weeks.....going from early December to almost the third-week of January to ensure some fairness to the mess, and toss in various potential injuries to just screw this up more.

The heart of this matter is that you can draw up a list of winners from the twenty colleges in America....and typically, it's two of the twenty that always appear.  I admit in the past five years.....Boise State has kinda shocked folks and they really are in a huff about not getting to the number one ranking.  I would imagine part of this discussion centers entirely on Boise State.

The sad thing is that if you take away this mess.....take away the Monday morning rankings appearing in USA Today and the local news....what would guys have to talk about for twelve weeks in the fall?  For some folks....this ranking business (while fairly fake) is their life and passion.  Guys exist in Gainesville and Huntsville to objectively discuss rankings and how one bad play led to their team being dumped from #16 and lodged to #20.  Suddenly, they speak of their chances of going to Gator Bowl as ten percent, and now they try to have some positive words to say over their chances of going to the Little Caesar's Pizza Bowl.

For some reason....I kinda see this Justice Department involvement as being something of a double-edged sword.  There's probably a pair of young rookie lawyers working for the Justice Department who've been given this task....and I can imagine this odd discovery at some point in the process....both rookie lawyers grew up in Boise, and attended Boise State University.  Yes, it would be an odd thing.....if you ponder upon it a while.  What are the odds?

Keep Moving Along

Its interesting to watch the various debate topics of today.

Orders on Osama to take him.....orders on Osma to kill him.

Osama's wife killed.....Osama's wife merely shot in the leg.

Osama had a gun at bedside.....Osama had no weapons.

Sixteen percent of America believes in no birth certificate for the President.....Sixteen percent of the Muslim world believes Osama is still living.

Pakistan knew little to nothing about the million-dollar compound.....Pakistan had to know everything about the million-dollar compound.

War with Islam all but over.....War with Islam will intensify over next month.

It's best to describe the news of the day as somewhat comical.  If I could have imagined ten years ago the details of the day after Osama was shot.....I could not have come near the amount of high school-style reporting going on.

I suspect by the end of the week that Doctor Phil will interview several of the neighbors to Osama bin Laden and treat them for bin Laden-ism and send them to some two week rehab center in Colorado Springs.  I suspect that Oprah will interview some random Navy Seals and make them cry on camera at pictures of bunnies being mistreated.  I'd even suspect that VP Joe Biden might admit to the public that the entire plan was his to start with.

It's best to simply keep moving and hope that bigger news by Friday consumes this.  I'd suggest Charlie Sheen admitting his entire act over the past one hundred days was bogus, and that might be big enough to end the Osama story.

The Most Interesting Thing

I spent around forty-five minutes today reading the news on Osama.  There are various pieces to this operation which are curious notes....but there is one fascinating piece.

This house that he was found in....isn't just a house.  It's a one-million dollar mansion in Pakistan.  We are talking about a million-dollar estate with 18-foot walls surrounding the place and almost no windows.  This would all be a bit odd.  But here is the unusual piece.....here in a million-dollar estate....they burned their garbage.

I would imagine that you could drive around Pakistan and maybe over the whole country.....find around 250 million-dollar estates.  If you were looking for one with almost no windows and 16-foot walls....you'd probably find less than three of them.  But finding a million-dollar mansion where folks burn all their garbage?  No....you just won't find that.

You can go off to France, Germany, Japan, and a dozen countries where you'd find million-dollar estates....and you just won't find anybody that burns their trash.  It's always picked up.

So I go back to my Bama days.  My dad, and almost everyone around where I grew up in the 1970s....burned their garbage.  You'd have a 55-gallon drum and toss a bag in....light it up, and then watch it burn.  After two months of this....the drum would be full and you'd tie it onto the truck and dump it at the local garbage dump.

This was a regular habit of my dad up until the 1980s.....when the locals are all got peppy about grass fires, and then it kinda got to be a bad thing.  Yes, I can remember twenty-odd grass fires starting and having to rush out and douse them with a hose before they became issues.

So I can kinda identify with the Obama folks here.  They probably had this habit from the Africa years and just kept up the trend....even when they were living in a one-million dollar estate.  Course, he also probably didn't want anyone ever reading his fantasy letters to some lusty gal in Bossier City, or gazing at his credit card information which had details over his 1-900 chats with a service out of Detroit.  So I can understand things like this.