Rush's Rushes Come to a Stop

Admittedly it is with more than a bit of glee that I report the following from CNN.com

Rush Limbaugh was arrested Friday on prescription drug charges, law enforcement officials said.

Limbaugh turned himself in to authorities on a warrant issued by the state attorney's office, said agency spokeswoman Teri Barbera.

The conservative radio commentator came into the jail at about 4 p.m. with his attorney Roy Black and was released an hour later on $3,000 bail, Barbera said.

The warrant was for fraud to conceal information to obtain prescription, Barbera said.

The hypocrisy of the thrice-divorced, family values proponent also know for his right-is-right law and order stance has finally come home to roost.

That's MISTER Goody-two-shoes to you!

And while I can attest that nice guys do NOT finish last, we’re also no where near the front either.

You Are 10% Evil

You are good. So good, that you make evil people squirm. Just remember, you may need to turn to the dark side to get what you want!

How Evil Are You?

Couldn’t we just change the title to “How Uninteresting Are You?”

Some odd questions though…equating anime with evil?  Eh, it’s just for fun and means nothing.

Lo, the End is Near

Our men have had visions and our women have dreamed dreams.
There are wars and rumors of war, in Babylon no less.
The End Times are here.
The time has come.
For on the very same day two babes were born from opposing camps. This can only mean one thing: both the Second Coming and the Anti-Christ are now here on Earth. But, to hide their identity from the orthodox believers, they both took the form of little girls.
Okay, so Brooke is no "Virgin Mary" and her mother is certainly no St. Anne, nonetheless I will ascribe that little baby Grier may well be the Second Coming of Christ.
But, how can I be so certain? Because on the same day the spawn of Tom Cruise and his brainwashed concubine Katie Holmes issued forth: Suri.
Soon we will see the 144,000, the chosen ones, those who own a copy of Blue Lagoon AND Pretty Baby disappear in the Rapture. Then will come the time of Tribulation when no one dare be "glib".
O woe unto us for the trials that await.

Reality TV, what a concept?

I belong to one of the smallest minority groups on America today and I and my people are under attack.  You see, other than the first season of The Apprentice, I have never seen more than about 30 consecutive seconds of any so-called "reality" show.

Sure I'm as likely as the next person to slow down at a traffic accident but just to get an idea of the damage; I most certainly do NOT want to see any carnage.  That's how I view these shows: slowing down to view emotional carnage.  "How conniving and underhanded will the tribe-members be this time?"   "My goodness, can you believe how lazy and out of touch that mother is to let her kids run around like that?"  "I bet Donald will see right through that two-faced tramp."  "Ooo, I wonder if Paula will be sober enough to get into another cat fight with Simon."  It's one thing watch a soap opera filled with such depravity but these are being sold to us as real people, real relationships, and real reactions.  I guess, like a sporting event, the "unpredictable" nature of it all has some appeal.  But as the editors and producers really are the ringmasters in this circus of humiliation, it's hardly cínema vérite.

I long for art, the creative expression of themes and ideas that move the human spirit, not just our baser animal nature.  I want to hear snappy, crisp dialogue like on West Wing or Cheers or Frasier.  I want to get to know complex characters like Andy Sipkowicz or Dr. Gregory House or Alan Shore.  I want to be challenged by edgy comedies like The Simpsons or Arrested Development.  I want a chance to enjoy creepy yet fun experiments like Twin Peaks and Eerie, Indiana.

"Reality Television", IMNSHO, is to culture what a Big Mac is to cuisine.  It passes the time as effectively as McDonald's can fill your stomach.  And, it's just as cheap...but with a far better return on the investment.  Money drives the nets to make them and craven scheudenfreud drives many to watch them.  

I do not watch "reality" unscripted television.  I do not want to watch it.  I was particularly careful to avoid these shows when we were a Nielson house but still they persist.  And as more and more of them fill the airwaves, there's less and less original programming.  I and my fellow television minorities are under attack and left with no recourse but to retreat from television even more.  But that further separates us from the society at-large.  We are being exiled within our own living rooms.

Regrets, I've had a few...

Maybe because it is the Lenten season this time of year is often a time for reflection which, for me, invariably leads me to ponder the road(s) not taken.

”Of all the words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these... it might have been.” -- John Greenleaf Whittier

Not to discount the wonderful things in our lives now which we might have missed had we taken a different path, however, there’s always the “what if” of our past that bubble up every now and again. So without diminishing current relationships and states in life, what are your regrets of your past? I’ll start.

I regret…
• … being overweight throughout high school (and my entire life) which robbed me of so much self-confidence that I never thought I was worthy of the relationships I really wanted (e.g. Kendra Torrey: extremely cute, highly intelligent, talented musician and completely out of my league.) or the roles I desired (Editor-in-Chief, or the lead in the plays).
• …not “playing the field” in my early years. (Could never master being the kind of jerk that women seemed to go for; I was always the “pal”—the pal who goes home alone.)
• …listening to my well-meaning mother and all the others who convinced me that acting and performing is only for “special” people.
• …not joining the military because I thought I was too much of an anti-authority smart-ass (and a physical wimp).
• …not understanding the inherently adversarial relationship between schools and parents of special ed kids early on.
• …never learning to ask for help when I didn’t understand something.

Interestingly, I never realized until now that all of my regrets are things I didn’t do, not things I did. I guess that’s what comes from being a “good kid”. No criminal record but a feeling that you missed out on a lot. But before we spend too much time on this, another quote would be instructional:

“Regret is an appalling waste of energy; you can't build on it; it's only good for wallowing in.” – Katherine Mansfield

It’s taken me some time but I’m finally at a point where I can look back on my regrets and simply accept them like the scar on my hand. It’s not particularly attractive but it is part of what makes me uniquely me.

When teachers attack...

My middle kid, a freshman in high school, has moderate-to-severe learning disabilities.  She spends most of her day in self-contained LD classes but as we and the school strive for a least restrictive environment, she often has a class or two in the mainstream.  In one of these classes (“advocacy”), she apparently had to complete some form which asked for her grade level.  As she is aware of the new calendar year, she was a bit unsure if her grade level also changed and she asked for some help/direction.  As she relates the story, the kids in the class responded with conflicting information and she became frustrated (and no doubt embarrassed) and crumpled the paper, tearing it and allowing some pieces to fall to the floor.  The teacher then came over to her and they must have engaged in some sort of dialogue because somehow my daughter ended up standing and facing the teacher who demanded that she pick up the paper.  At some point the teacher said, “That’s it!  I’ve had it.” and pushed my daughter backward hard enough that she fell hitting her back and her head against the teacher’s desk (metal).  She has several bruises today and is quite sore and her head hurts.  She was also complaining of being “unfocused” which is an indication of mild seizure activity (her epilepsy caused her LD).  Until now, proper meds and a surgically implanted device have cut her seizure occurrences and intensity dramatically so I am concerned that this injury might have exacerbated her condition.

I am a bit too close to the subject matter and it is too recent for me to completely trust my judgement.  So I am asking for input from cooler heads: what would you do now?  What do you think I can expect to happen?

Oh and regarding the veracity of my daughter’s report of the incident…although she is an LD kid she is extremely honest at least as she perceives the world.  The problem is that her disability may skew her perceptions sometimes.  Regardless, she is bruised and sore.  My wife took pictures of the injuries but I have not yet seen them myself.