Miscellaneous

Redeye Update 11/18/2008

By Chris Stevenson

I have a lot to write about, but I've got to make this quick.  My job has gone from "SHITSTORM" to "VORTEX OF PANIC," so that's why the scant posting.

1. I'm a little late with it, but I'm glad Obama won.  This topic could be Volume I of a huge series of posts, so I'll just leave it at that.

2. I'm still not over UT's loss to Tech.  I've watched replays countless times and studied what happened in great detail.  I have no explanation for what in the hell Gideon and Earl Thomas were doing on the last play, especially Thomas.  A whiff on the most important play of the fucking season?  It was the most Joe Walker-esque play I have seen since the Anti Victory's playing days.  Seriously.  To say nothing of Gideon's open vagina demonstration non-catch of the INT.  My gawd.  Fuckers are going to be the death of me.

3. Despite the loss, I stand by the assertion that UT was the most physically gifted team with the best football players on the field that night.  Tech won on emotion and superior focus (and the legend of Joe Walker).  Texas is the best team in the country 9 times out of 10.

4. The BCS is ridiculous.  I go back and forth on the issue, but right now I'm all for a playoff.  The college presidents and their marketing plan of keeping the regular season as "the most exciting in sports" is a compelling argument, but the truth is that it's all about money.  The "monopolizing the student-athletes' time" argument is farcical.  These dudes haven't been treated like student athletes since their sophomore year in high school.  The presidents have also stated as a primary objectiove that they have to "consider all of the constituencies," which really means "The bowls and the networks have got their hooks into this deal and they got to get paid."  The only thing that will change this is a serious and sustained drop in ratings and attendance due to several years of worst case scenario BCS pairings.  Odds are that's not going to happen.

5. I won the biggest trial of my short career last week.  My trial record is now 3-0.

6. My current favorite song is "Old St. John" by the Cold War Kids.  Cool name for a band too.  Check out a video for the song here.

7. Recently joined Facebook.  It's been a trip to connect with people I haven't seen or talked to in ten or fifteen years.

8. My fiance' and I went through our Catholic Engaged Encounter last weekend.  It's mandatory to get married in the Catholic church.  I am not currently a practicing Catholic.  In fact, I would classify myself as a secular humanist.  Let's just say that the Catholic church didn't do much to sell me during the weekend.  I'm going to try not to be a hater because my fiance' has asked me to try to be more tolerant of people who I disagree with.  This is a worthy goal.  Predictably, the times when the needle on my fight or flight gauge was in the red were when birth control and abortion were discussed.  I have no problem with people believing what they believe as long as it is grounded in some semblance of logic and sound reasoning, or better yet, clearly established fact.  But, most of us just do the best we can based on incomplete information and lack of contemplation.  What I take issue with is deliberate misinformation aka lies.  Natural family planning (NFP) is not as effective as contraception.  It's just not.  And don't be a fear mongor by telling people that the pill will cause cancer and render women infertile.  Give the objective facts and tell people that the church insists that the faithful use NFP in spite of those facts.  The only problem that I have with the church's stance on abortion is that they want to impose their beliefs on the citizenry at large through the government.  No.  The basic foundation of our country is built on an absolute separation of church and state.  Any crossover of moral issues has got to be coincidental and decided by the policies of the people as expressed through politics (meaning the ouija board of what people want expressed as a whole), the democratic process and elected officials.

That's all I've got for now.  I'll try not to be away so long next time.  Thanks for stopping by.

Full post as published by Cursed With Ambition on November 18, 2008 (boomark / email).