Monday, October 16, 2006

10/16: 1. Fire these folks

A few days ago, Steve Lyons was fired from the broadcast team of the Tigers vs the As because he joked about not wanting to sit close to Lou Pinella, the implication being Lou might want to steal his wallet. He also said tht Pinella was good at "habla-ing" Spanish. (Pinella is of Mexican or Spanish descent.) And he was fired for this. What's the big deal?

Meanwhile, this spinach outbreak of E-coli has killed a few kids and sickened more. Yet in a report given to the newspapers the spokesperson said (and unfortunately I didn't write down his name) "We haven't found the smoking cow yet." (Cow manure coming into contact with spinach is what caused the e coli outbreak.)

And to me, that statement reeks of bad taste. It's a play on words of the "smoking gun" in criminal trials, but to say "smoking cow" when there are children dead because of this just rubbed me the wrong way.

Then, in the October 16, 2006 issue of my local newspaper Daily Press, and I'm sure in papers around the US, the family Circus cartoon is Billy praying: "and thank you for not letting Popeye get sick." This is supposed to be funny? Children die, lots more are sick, and the author of Family Circus thinks its funny for Billy to thank God for not letting Popeye get sick?

Well, that's all of a piece, of course, for religious people who see thousands of people die in a natural disaster. One person survives, because of "the grace of God." Thanks alot, god.

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