Summer's all done

So, my summer officially ended today when I brought all of the surfboards home and started trying to figure out the long list of scheduling obligations that are rapidly filling up our calendar between now and June 2011. That good ole' school calendar wreaks havoc, doesn't it?

And, of course, I've got a summer cold. See? It's always something.

Speaking of "somethings," I've been pleased to see the overhwelming negative reply to the butthead in Florida who wants to burn copies of the Q'ran. I guess the problem was "created" when Gen. Petraeus put his name in the news...but our collective news media took the story and ramped it up.

Now, he got his name in the news and that prompted....well you could almost say that EVERY ONE of our public officials agreed that what this Rev. Whathisname was doing the wrong thing. President Obama, General Petraeus, Republicans, Democrats, Christians, Jews...perhaps through his nutty publicity stunt he's figured out a way to unify America where everyone else had failed.

I guess he helped find the outer edges of the lunatic's fringe. As with everything, we'll find out.

What's with issue and identity politics? I have tended to call myself "Democrat" but would never use that label in the same way I'd say "Redskins fan" or Catholic. In fact, I've voted for Republican Presidential candidates far more than Democrats. I have my opinions on the various issues that candidates give stump speeches on, but feel no need to shout down everyone else who disagrees.

Perhaps the pundits are correct, there's a silent middle in our country who simply stays quiet. I find the political gamesmanship all too counter-intuitive to make much sense. For example, I'm anti-abortion and anti-capital punishment. So....that makes me.....what?? Is there a Party of Confusion? Probably.

The NFL season kicked off last night with....a kinda lousy game between Minnesota and N'Orleans. Tick tock tick tock, Mr. Favre. Next time, try throwing to the guys wearing the same color jerseys as you. Oh, and that vaunted Minnesota D-line? Hmmm...this year they're not juiced. Minnie-ha-ha fans, bend and say R-U-N.

The contrast between opening day baseball and the NFL's opening bacchanal is breathtaking. Baseball's opening day is a beautiful, pastoral and sunny event - if you're truly lucky you get a sun-kissed warm April afternoon with a little pomp and circumstance...even better if your team wins.

The NFL? It's like the Nazis won the war. Product-placement galore, ads ads ads, and strippers, singers dressed like strippers, and announcers yelling at the national TV audience (or radio, I was listening on the road) over the yelling of the crowds. I love football but (as I've mentioned before) am souring on the "NFL experience."

Football games aint pro wrestling - I think that's what I'm saying. And, yes, I know they're called "cheerleaders" and not strippers. Coulda fooled me.

I've been ordered to sit at home and rest this cold. So I watched an old 70's flick by George Romero called "The Crazies." It's about a town that gets quarantined by the Army when a bioweapon virus is accidentally dumped into the town's water supply.

Hold up, wasn't this the plot of a zillion other movies? "28 Days Later" comes to mind. One of many. There are no new ideas anymore....

And, to illustrate the point, they "re-imagined" The Crazies earlier this year. Same damned movie. This is why I refused to buy tickets for The Karate Kid this summer. Life must be an endless loop. Wash, rinse, repeat. A merry-go-round. You'd think that the literary arts would offer respite, but you'd probably be wrong. I would be, too.