Stop Reading - Brighten Your Day

If you know me, you know I don't read fiction. I haven't read fiction in a LONG time. I read periodicals and business books - that's about it. I got my new Sports Illustrated today and read it cover-to-cover as usual and there is a great article in it (depending on how you look at it) about how the Chinese government basically white-washed everything about the Olympics and are trying their best to make sure they are viewed in a positive light. I followed that story up by reading online (my favorite preference) about how the performers in the opening ceremonies were treated. The people in the boxes had to wear adult diapers....nuff said. One girl is paralyzed from the waist down from a fall during practice with adverse weather..... the flying / singing girl was replaced by a lipsync artist because the real singer wasn't cute enough.... bragging by the director that they could do more in a week than American performers could learn in 2 months.... it's very enlightening. I also read this week in another magazine that illegal drivers in America (no valid license) kill on average 25 people per day. Think about that for a second. I know I've made comparisons like this before, but this one is crazy. We've lost a little over 4,000 men in Iraq since Feb 2003. That's roughly 2 deaths per day. People go ape shit over that statistic. We all agree, one death is tragic and nobody is making light of any death.....but when you realize that 116 people die on American highways every day....and about 25 of them are caused by drivers without a valid driver's license....it's enough to make your head want to explode. The story goes into details about how people from other countries who probably can't read just plow through intersections and kill families. You read about people with 8-10 traffic convictions having their license taken away on a Monday and then they end up killing someone within a week. It's a tough article to read. The guys in Iraq signed up for the military. I'm talking about families dying who are in a car, wiped out by someone who shouldn't be behind the wheel - and nobody seems to be doing anything about it. We're a country of very bright resourceful people when we need to be: to make a better video game, to allow us to have 1,000,000 different ringtones on our phones, we have robots to vacuum our carpets and my car remembers where I had my seat and steering wheel when my wife is done driving it. You can buy a toaster that will darken one slice more than the other. Our dogs don't need a fence anymore. My daughter can play checkers with her grand pap who lives 250 miles away. Everyone has Crackberry thumbs. Why can't we devise a simple product or two that can do the following:

1. Attach to the steering column and kill cell phone signals within 5 feet of the steering column if the car is running.
2. Have some type of breathalyzer on dash to detect if the person is past .08 and not start the car if so. Or, have an 8 digit password to start the car which would be difficult to remember or punch in if totally loaded. Any idiot can turn a key.
3. A system to ensure people without a valid license won't drive. How about, if you get caught, you go to jail for 5 years with no questions asked. People will say, we need space for hardened criminals. Well, I submit that if an illegal alien smashes an SUV into a mother and her baby killing them....a fine and never being able to get their license is no big deal.

I hate to say it, but some countries in the Middle East do a much better job of preventing crimes and idiotic behavior with their barbaric system of deterrents. Maybe if you rape someone and get castrated, it will deter people. Maybe if you get caught breaking and entering and lose your legs, it will deter people. Maybe if you kill someone and get shot between the eyes within a week....the murder rate would go down. It sounds drastic, but when 25 people per day die for no good reason, it just doesn't make sense to me. If all the energy that political foes of the war went to address this one issue, do you think the problem could be alleviated by half? If it was alleviated from 25 to 22, they could save more lives than bringing home the boys from Iraq. Makes you think, doesn't it?

Miss Teen USA and Miss USA - Hiccup?

So Miss USA, Tara Conner (left) and Miss Teen USA, Katie Blair (right) were out partying in new York Clubs. What's the big deal? Conner just turned 21 but was photographed there before her birthday and Blair is 18 - old enough to serve in the Army, but not have a Cosmopolitan. It must be a really slow week for news. In my opinion, the only bad thing about this story is that "Girls Gone Wild" cameras weren't around and rolling.....I mean LOOK at them! All this "controversy" did was create bigger names for both of them. Remember, the most successful Miss America of all time was probably Vanessa Williams who had nude photos taken with another woman before she won. How many other past winners can you remember? If these two little hotties go on to model, sing, act or appear on reality TV shows - they might be the next contest winner we remember. Donald Trump's press conference with Conner was nothing but a publicity stunt. Now MADD has come out and said they are cutting ties with Blair. I guess having an 18-year-old that has a few drinks isn't the best candidate to preach about drunk driving, but they are fooling themselves if they think 18-year-olds aren't drinking all across the country. In my humble opinion, they could have made it into a more realistic life lesson for teenagers had they attempted to find out how she was escorted around town that night. If she used cabs or a limo service, they could have spun it into at least she didn't drink and get behind the wheel. From what I've read about this non-story, neither was close to being loud, obnoxious or intoxicated. They were having a few drinks. Big deal. Now, had Blair been sloppy drunk, hopped up on a bar, whipped her top off and screamed "Look at THESE!".....then, we'd have a problem. But for two young people between 18-21 to simply have a few drinks and it turns into a media event is hilarious in my mind. Same thing when it happened to the Bush girls....having a few cocktails when you are at or near college age is a right of passage. It always has been and it always will be. Nobody should be throwing a rock at that glass house because I'd be willing to bet something like 98% of all Americans have had a taste of alcohol before their 21st birthday. Should I find a beer bottle cap in my daughter's pocket when she is 18 (much like Still A. Dad's revelation that I was having a few Silver Bullets before my 21st) I'll give her the same speech he gave me. "If you come home in my car and I smell alcohol on your breath - you're done driving." Simple. Concise. Practical. He didn't flip out. He didn't tell me not to have a few beers with my friends. He simply gave me "the look" that meant I knew he was serious. I don't know if I'm a fan of lowering the drinking age to 18, but it sure seems silly that you can go fight a war in Iraq and not be able to have 2-3 beers while watching a football game. As long as Tara Conner doesn't turn into Tara Reid - she can be my Miss USA.