This and That

This concerns Ted Williams the anointed "Golden Voice Homeless Guy." Is it just me, or did no one else see this coming?

He was homeless for a reason. No matter much I people bleeding hearts tell me "If only someone had given him an opportunity..." when referring to some homeless person; I still know there is a segment of the homeless who've down more than fallen on hard times or couldn't catch a break. Ol' Ted fell on some hard times. He never seemed to have caught a break. Now he's caught a whole shitload of breaks, and what does he do? He blows them. Ted has a myriad of issues the least of which is being homeless. That didn't occur overnight, it took many months, and by the look of him, years of fucking up to get to where he did.

The bigger issue here is his drinking and drug problem. As far as all of the companies that came out of the woodwork to jump on this exploitative marketing and publicity gravy train, did they not see the forest for the trees? How many people looked for employment at these firms only to be turned away because they couldn't pass a pee test or a background check? How many current employees has human resources had to put into rehab, or worse yet fire due to addiction problems. Yet resume-less, inexperienced, and untrained Ted Williams gets more job offers without as much as a query.

Shame on Kraft and the Cleveland Cavaliers. Why don't you consider the people who've toiled for years in the background working toward the kind of breaks you threw at Ted Williams just to get some PR. Why not interview any number of experienced, college graduates that would kill for the opportunities companies waved in front of Ted Williams like so many dollar bills. And in this economy, with this many talented people out of work. Again I say shame on them.

I hope Ted can overcome his demons for the sake of Ted, not because of his possible future employment status, that has been precarious at best. The other shit if he doesn't get a handle on it can send him back to jail, or worse kill him. The story of "The Golden Voiced Homeless Guy" be just that, a human interest story. That was why it was filmed. Just a homeless man doing some radio schtick, nothing more.

That nut case that decided things weren't going according to the order of the universe he perceived shot some people. Which from what I've studied, always brings clarity to those who may be confused as to the purpose of it all. Are you fucking kidding me!? The idea that no one suspected things were taking a drastic turn on the loony front is what confuses me. It makes about as much sense as offering a homeless alcoholic, drug addict, and petty criminal gigs worth six figures.

This past Sunday I watched the 60 Minutes expose on the Arizona shooter (I refuse to denigrate this piece with his name which already has made its infamous imprint on history). The people interviewed all concurred that he had gone around the bend, yet no one brought this to the attention of his parents, police, anybody that could have acted as a stopgap before it culminated in the tragedy that played out in front of a Safeway supermarket. One of the shooters classmates even said that she took the seat nearest the door just in case this mentally unstable individual decided one bright sunny day that it would be a good time to take out some fellow students.

Is our collective memory really that short? Did the persons responsible for his dismissal from Pima Community College not recall the horror of Virginia Tech no so long ago? Was someone afraid of violating this asshole's civil rights? And now folks are making all kinds of bizarre reactionary suggestions about what sort of legislation can be passed to prevent this sort of thing from happening again. Are the people we elect really that stupid?

I'm not a big fan of guns. However, I do believe in the second amendment as it was written and the purpose for which it was written; to arm Americans against hostile invaders of our shores. I'm sure had the Founding Fathers foresaw what that amendment would one day wrought, perhaps it would have been worded a little differently. But the idea of outlawing the sale of Glock handguns, and making a law that limits the amount of bullets a clip can hold is not only superficial, but asinine. Do these people really think that's going to stop someone from shooting another? Do these type of laws address the real issue here, which is mental illness?

Our society has been reactive as opposed to pro-active since the first settlements. These groups finally realized they should prepare themselves for harsh conditions, and even harsher winters. No one figured that out from the correspondence from the first early settlers?

Christ, we were the last nation to do away with slavery. What were we waiting on then?

9/11 is a perfect example. Other capitalist nations had already endured multiple terrorist activities. What made us think it wasn't going to happen to us? Information became known that something was brewing even before it happened. Why do we think we're exempt?

And now, with government funding for studying and treating the mentally ill who may be prone to violence abysmally lacking, legislators are looking to pass more laws that infringe on the rights of those who aren't several fries short of a Happy Meal. That makes sense...not.

Since I'm still mid-rant; you know what else doesn't make sense? The way the NFL playoffs are turning out. Before they started, it looked as if New England was going to make another Super Bowl appearance. No one else in the AFC was playing remotely close to their level. Each team in the NFC looked as if they were playing not to lose. Suddenly, Green Bay seems to be peaking at just the right time. Chicago is playing opportunistic football. It looked like one of the two of them was going to give New England a run for their money...until the Jets beat them. So much for that. Jet versus Steelers is anybody's guess, and don't give me that shit about home field advantage, even for the kicker, who also has to kick off that cow pasture.

Green Bay at Chicago is just as perplexing. They play in the same division. They're two of professional football's oldest franchises. They both play similar styles. They both frequently play in shitty weather. I'm not making any predictions, but I think for the pure randomness of what has already transpired has made me me much more interested in watching than I thought I'd be. Oh yeah, by the way, for those of you who are regular readers, fuck Pittsburgh