I know it's not the proper thing to say in the post-Sept. 11 climate, but I'm already tired of having my bags checked upon getting to work every day.
I have heard too many times the past three weeks that sports has "been put into perspective." Columnists and athletes say that it's just not as important anymore.
I couldn't more strongly disagree with such a defeatist attitude. If anything that perspective should be that sports is a vital cog in the wheel of Americana; our lifestyle needs sports for its release and diversions.
Can you imagine how dull a world this would be without a Super Bowl every January, a Masters to usher in the spring every April, the Olympics bringing together the world every two years, or especially a Little League ballgame to watch the kids have fun?
I don't care to spend all of my time worrying about foreign policy or gun control; I need to enjoy playing with my fantasy teams online, to put on my Thrashers jersey and see a hockey game once in awhile, to bemoan the sour mood of the Red Sox Nation.
That makes me happy and life worth living, and for me is a proper perspective.
Case in point: The awesome baseball stories taking place this week. On Thursday alone, Barry Bonds tied Mark McGwire's single-season home run record of 70; Rickey Henderson topped Ty Cobb's all-time career runs scored record; the Orioles signed Tim Raines to play with his son, prospect Tim Raines, Jr.; and the Braves clinched a tie for first place in the National League East. This weekend, Bonds goes for the record by himself, and future Hall of Famers Cal Ripken, Jr. and Tony Gwynn have their retirement ceremonies.
An addendum to my column this week by Jonah Goldberg, the oft-quoted National Review columnist whom I have great respect for, on the fact that Americans aren't to blame, and don't have to care what our enemies think:
"These people cannot be reasoned with; they make no "argument" about how to organize society; they seek no compromise with dissenters. They are simply malfunctional murderers, and we have neither the time, the inclination, nor the obligation to understand or tutor them."
The peaceniks from last weekends numerous marches seem to think that if we just sit down and talk to the Taliban and bin Laden's other cronies that we can build an understanding.
Um, huh? Terrorists don't want to talk; they don't care if we understand what they believe or not. What they want is us dead. That's why they issued an edict calling for the killing of all Americans and Jews in the name of Allah. Not much you can do to get everyone to the table and exchanging hugs when one side would just as assume drive a dagger into your heart.
Producers of the sitcom "Friends" had to re-work a scene this month because it featured newlyweds Chandler and Monica heading through an airport on their honeymoon, and Chandler jokes about a sign that says it's illegal to joke about bombs on airplanes.
Not that it would have been funny anwyway, before Sept. 11. It's just another reason I feel good about not watching the show anymore. It hasn't been funny for a couple of years now, and largely because they never grow up. After seven seasons, I expect them to mature at least a teensy little bit.
Good thing "Survivor" starts next week.
It's kinda fun watching the Leftist media lionize President Bush over the last week. Oh, sure, I know that in three or four months they'll decide that he's been buttered up enough and will do to him what they succeeded with his father. But for now it's amusing at worst, reassuring at best.
One possible reason: Even the media was tired of Clinton's wishy-washyness; he makes the tough decisions with a forceful zeal that couldn't have been possible if Gore was in the White House.
As Washington Post columnist David Broder solemnly notes, Bush, who authorized military fighters to shoot down stray commercial aircraft on Sept. 11, is "the first president since Lincoln who has given the military an order to fire on fellow Americans." He adds: "A president who will order the deaths of innocent Americans in order to frustrate terrorist designs will not find it difficult to issue ultimatums to nations and groups that harbor and support terrorists."
Atlanta paper subheader: "Studies: Most in U.S. are Christian." I look forward to tomorrow's stunner: "Most in jails are criminals."
Whether media-whore Jesse Jackson was invited by the Taliban or invited himself to Afghanistan is in dispute. Strange war when I believe the Taliban over Jesse Jackson.
Can you believe that Congressman Gary Condit is still on the House Intelligence Committee? Okay, he's a Democrat, of course you can. But, after Sept. 11, unbelievable and disgusting, he was named to the Subcommittee on Terrorism and Homeland Security!
Until he can help us find the body of Chandra Levy there's no way that Condit is in any position to do any good at finding terrorists. He's a liability and an embarrassment to our political system, which says a whole lot.
Sacramento's KXTV reports: "His first move was to send a letter to law enforcement agencies to ask their thoughts on improving homeland security." As opinionjournal.com responds, "How about removing this potentially blackmailable congressman from a position that gives him access to classified information?"
What is this new business of Bush's administration that supports the eventual formation of a Palestinian state? That has to be the worst idea yet from the leaders of our nation. I thought we were supposed to be fighting terrorists, yet we're going to give them their own state next door to our friends in Israel (a Democracy, mind you)? Forget it, Bush. Don't let the State Department whisper sweet, and misguided, nothings in your ear.
As conservative columnist Cal Thomas notes: "Creation of a Palestinian state without ironclad guarantees that the Palestinians will make war no more on Israel is folly and madness. Such a plan is guaranteed to further destabilize the region and teach the enemies of Israel and the United States - who are the same - that terrorism works."
Newest Vents from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
It's time to remember Ben Franklin's warning: "Those who sacrifice liberty for security will get and deserve neither."
If everyone flying a flag was a registered voter, I would be a lot more impressed.
If Clinton is going to be flying on four commercial airlines to prove flying is safe, does that mean he's going without his Secret Service bodyguards?
It's time to staff airport security with quality professionals instead of the usual Jerry Springer audience rejects.
In the last eight years we've suffered thousands of American casualties in six terrorist attacks without a meaningful response. How's that for giving peace a chance?
"Never underestimate the fury of an aroused democracy." - Gen. Dwight David Eisenhower.
It's been said that this is the start of Armageddon. If so, then the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines.
How courageous it is to protest outside an empty U.S. embassy and then burn it.
Bin Laden picked a fight with a kid who has a whole house full of big brothers.
Didn't anyone at AOL ever pass English? "You've got mail" should be "you have mail."
It scares me when my wife starts a sentence with, "On Rosie today..."
Batman's Words of Wisdom: "A reporter's lot is not easy, making exciting stories out of plain, average, ordinary people like Robin and me."
Homer quote: "Weaseling out of things is important to learn. It's what separates us from
the animals! Except the weasel."
Random site: The Onion -- If you haven't been to this site, then you're missing the boat on the funniest satire on the Net, especially following the attacks last month.