Not so random thought of the Day

(this post was started late last night and wrapped-up this morning. Please set your watches accordingly)

Thank goodness for basketball. No, not the NBA or college hoops but our rag-tag rec league that plays on Monday nights (and sometimes Wednesday nights or even double-headers on Mondays because of scheduling crunches) down at San Diego High’s venerable old Cave. Yours truly was privileged to play a small part in a semi-final win this evening for which we chipped in 10 pts., a charlie horse, a bruised lip and a technical foul. And because of all that, the fact that we will not actually fall asleep until 1 matters not a lick.

We mention this because there are times while we are driving home, completely exhausted, that we have the greatest peace of mind and the greatest clarity regarding the world around us. Bruce Springsteen once said, “It all comes back to the physical”, meaning those 4-hour rock’n’roll tent revival meetings he is famous for were really about breaking down the body to free the spirit…. Liberate your ass and the mind will follow...

This goes double for this evening as the events that unfolded today in D.C. will mean that turning on the T.V. or radio or opening up the newspaper or surfing the internet will be absolutely insufferable… as will blogging. So, again, thank goodness for basketball and the completely inconsequential world of sports, in general.

And because we feel we have some clarity right now, it’s safe to describe our mood currently as saddened. We are saddened by the 3 very high profile murders that have occurred this past 10-11 days. Murder is wrong and nothing… nothing justifies it. And despite what you will hear or read for the next few days, (weeks? months?) hatred knows no ideology. We are also saddened that people will use this as an excuse to play gotcha politics. We couldn’t help but notice the near glee emoting from some news commentators, columnists and blog-folk over the murder of George Tiller. It was sickening. It was as if the life of a single person was a small price to pay for pinning absolute moral failure on a religious/political ideology. Yaaaaay, now we’ve got’m pinned!

And this is why today, we couldn’t wait to get to the Cave and wish for someone to give us a cheap elbow to the chops.

We are also saddened that we have a President who is not as saddened. The Commander-in-Chief has seen fit to issue a statement on the White House.gov website condemning (and rightfully so) the murder of Dr. Tiller and also a statement on the murder of the security guard at the Holocaust museum that was issued in such a pro forma and hasty manner, it did not bother to mention the name of the man who gave his life to protect the sanctity of the museum and the lives of those inside it.

Yet this same Commander-in-Chief cannot see fit to address, at the same website, the assassination of an Army private who is in his Constitutionally-mandated chain of command at the hands of an Islamic jihadist. The War on Terror has been brought to our home turf and yet no one dare speak its name. How can that not be saddening?

The absence of this, the smallest of gestures actually overshadows Bailout Nation, the laughable “era of fiscal responsibility”, the porkulus political payoffs, the bankruptcy cramdowns and the rest of the miserable lot of folly and vanity administered now out of the West wing.

And it’s saddening because we love our President. Yes, we do. Not in the blindly sycophantic “thrill up the leg” way of a fourth estate that has completely rolled over and abrogated its responsibility to the Republic but a love borne of devotion and respect for the office of President. Prayers for the safety of and wisdom for, are not offered on behalf of any particular person, they are sent on behalf of the President of the United States of America. We disagree vehemently with the policies of the President but by dammed, he’s the only one we’ve got.

So considering the events of the past week and a half and our current mood, we’re a tad worn out. We posted some stuff late this afternoon where we haven’t gone back to take a look at with respect to comments because quite frankly, we don’t care what you think of what we think. And this not checking or responding to comments may continue for a few days, we’re not sure. Please do not take this as any disrespect. We are as flattered as humanly possible that anyone would want to take valuable time to read what we post here, it’s just that we’re taking a break from other people’s opinions for a short while. We’ve said our piece and now we move on.

We’ll break out of this funk in no time, we’re sure. At least until the morning when we wake up, trundle downstairs to break open the fish wrap and are once again assaulted with the news of the world and dutifully instructed as to who’s to blame for this bloody mess.

Most likely pictures of sunsets and daisies to follow.