As I sit here watching some inane soccer match between Canada and the U.S, (which in and of itself is kind of stupid) I am ruminating on the absolute panic that seems to be taking place here in the home country over our lack of medal prowess at these games. I cannot understand why anybody is surprised. I warned of just such an occurance in this space just before the games began. It is rather stupid, however to watch and listen to the daily roll of Canadian accomplishments touting finishes in the bottom third of every single event! Ah well! In typical Canuck fashion we are remorseful, resigned, and resilient. Here are a few more Stop the Stupid items to help spruce up your weekend.
1. Staying on the Olympic theme, it seems to me that everyone is missing the point about the young Chinese girl who was outed as a lip-syncher. The media was aghast that such a deception was played on the world audience and the idea that the little girl whose face was seen was not the actual singer. The main stream media fell all over themselves to remind us of recent deceptions like Ashlee Simpson fudging her performance on Saturday Night Live or the scandal of Milli Vanilli. I do not think that the lip-synching of the song is the real problem. The real stupidity lies in the fact that the singer whose voice was heard, was deemed inappropriate due to her appearance. In other words, she wasn't pretty enough. The Chinese have defended this switch as being in "national interests". I am constantly sickened and amazed at the stupidity of adults foisting their ideas of beauty onto children. We need to teach our children to recognize their beauty. Worrying about the lip-synching is not seeing the proverbial forest for the trees.
2. My hometown has suffered through a brutal week. The explosion that rocked the city 6 days ago is still wreaking havoc on area residents. Some people were still denied access to their homes as of yesterday and it looks like at least a half a dozen homes closest to the blast site will be deemed uninhabitable. The Mount Sinai cemetery, where many of us in the Jewish community have relatives remains closed while the damage is being assessed and concerns of asbestos contamination is prompting parents to worry about the safety of two schools in the area due to begin classes in a few short weeks. Residents and their local councillor almost came to blows a couple of days ago, while the fire department, public health and safety management officials search for answers. And where is the mayor? Well, after a brief appearance at a press conference on Monday morning, it seems His Honour has flown back to the west coast to rejoin his family on vacation. I don't know what he was thinking. The city is in a leadership vacuum during a most tenuous time and the mayor is frolicking in B.C!! I admit that I have never been a big fan, but I also know that Mr. Mayor could never before have been accused of abandoning his people during a time of crisis. I cannot believe how stupid it is that neither he, nor the premier (who is in Beijing!) is here to provide some leadership during this miserable time.
3. In all of the voyeuristic and smarmy hubbub over the John Edwards extra-marital affair, comes one little bit of stupidity that I am actually interested in commenting about. During his "mea culpa" interview last week with ABC news, Mr. Edwards (he of the recently failed presidential campaign) wanted to make it clear to all who were listening that his little side-journey from marital fidelity did not take place while his wife was battling cancer and it was over long before her grim diagnosis. So let me get this straight, it is okay to cheat on your wife while she is healthy, but not okay while she is sick? I could not care less about the sexual proclivities of any of these jackasses and I truly believe it obscures from the important work that needs to be done, but honestly!!! These guys are beyond stupid. They actually are starting to sicken me.
4. I have relegated the Commander of Stupid to a bit further down the list, because believe it or not it is easy to forget about him when he spends 10 days in the Far East. But, he didn't disappoint. "First of all, I don't see America having problems." He spouted this gem during an interview with NBC's Bob Costas on August 10th. Oh, really Mr. Pres? No problems? What about rising unemployment, gas prices, food prices, the uninsured, infrastructure, America's reputation abroad and a little thing called war? The man lives in a bubble all his own. As if that weren't bad enough, he was also caught ogling the beach volleyballers. Check out this or this! Kind of sleazy if not stupid.
5. MIchael Phelps eats 12,000 calories a day! Yes. You read that correctly. !2,000 calories a day. To put that in perspective, the average man eats between 2500 and 3000 calories a day and even that is probably too much to maintain a normal and healthy weight. Have you seen Michael Phelps? The man is a perfect athletic specimen and he eats 12,000 calories a day. I cannot begin to even comprehend what that must feel like. I realize that his training burns off all of it, but it boggles the mind. This is not necessarily a stupid unless any of us try to emulate Michael Phelps and gorge on 12,000 calories a day. Remember this little tidbit before trying this at home--MIchael Phelps is a freak of nature!! The vast majority of us just think of 12,000 calories and gain weight. I know that all I have to do is imagine his menu and my thighs get bigger. Don't be stupid!! Eat healthy, exercise in moderation and understand the difference between world-class athletes and the rest of us peons.
6. One of my all time favourite singers, Jackson Browne is suing the McCain campaign for using his song "Running on Empty" in a campaign commercial without permission. Mr. Browne is pissed that not only is he not being compensated, but he is a lifelong Democrat and doesn't want himself or his work associated with this campaign. Isn't Mr. McCain a U.S senator? Doesn't he know and understand copyright laws? Doesn't he have people working for him who might get it? Classically stupid!!!
7. Finally, I have long been a watcher of one specific newscast here in the Big Smoke. For many years, this news organization has employed the services of one reporter who acts as the "Consumer Advocate". The idea is that he is "on your side" and if you have problems with unscrupulous vendors or poor products he will expose it and solve the problem. Lately, this has not been the case. The reporter seems to rely on canned reports from Consumer's Report and he passes them off as if he created the segment. Not only that, while he does an adequate job of highlighting the issues, he never seems to solve any problem. What good is calling the consumer advocate if he can't rectify the trouble? I really don't care to know that nothing can be done. I want to know that you fixed it!! It is time to stop with the stupid and utterly useless reports and get a consumer advocate who can make waves! Just my two cents!!
Have a wonderful weekend-hopefully with sunshine!
Shabbat Shalom to all who observe.
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