Olympic Hockey

I was watching US vs. Sweden with my sons and the US was on a 5-3 power play. Scott Gomez made a bad pass and Axelson from Sweden had a breakaway against DiPietro. He was denied and we all yelled "Axelson sucks!" We had a good laugh...

It's Funny!

I have to weigh in on the Cheney thing. I know there was a wave of sentiment about how none of these jokes would be funny if the lawyer died. Wrong. It would be funny no matter what happened.

Someone wants to hunt, go for it. At some level, all non-vegetarians are hunters. There is a thin line between killing an animal for your benefit and taking joy in it. I guess I just never understood how people took that step across the line to blood lust, but I can live with it. But canned hunts step across the line. In fact, they take a corporate jet into a whole new territory.

These guys basically went skeet shooting with caged animals and ended up shooting each other. It's better than watching "Stupid Criminals". The only hole that I see in evolution theory is that sometimes these yahoos pass on their DNA before going hunting.

My Brokeback View

I finally went to see it. It took a while, but it finally is in about 4 or 5 theaters in Richmond. Fairly decent turnout, but mostly couples my age or older. So, in the true spirit of blogging, here are a few random thoughts.

When it was over, I had no doubt about what would win Best Picture. I still need to see Capote and Good Night, and Good Luck, but I just don't see them doing better than Brokeback.

SO DEPRESSING. The thought I kept having was, "there wasn't anywhere on the planet that they were allowed to be who they were." You can't be a cowboy in San Francisco and you can't be gay in Wyoming. I suspect that hasn't changed much.

My view of Wyoming. I knew people who were gay....and/or suspected were gay. Know what they all have in common? They don't live in Wyoming. Gone. Nothing there for them. I know that feeling. There is something that calls me back there, but ultimately I know that there isn't anything there for me either.

My parents and all their friends. They are of the same generation as Jack and Ennis. I think my uncle actually did some sheepherding. I know he was a roughneck at one point. My dad worked the railroad. Bob hunted antelope from the back of a moving pickup truck. So, it wasn't hard for me to see these characters as real. I just wonder where they would have stood if they had known Jack and Ennis were going fishing. I suspect they would have been cool with it, but with a certain apathy that allows the energy of fear-driven homophobes to reign in Wyoming. We're all guilty of that.

Second, the accents were much better. They sounded like they were cowboys from Wyoming. Ever seen The Laramie Project? They thought Wyoming was just south of Alabama. What a joke.

Lastly, I use to wear cowboy boots. They made you taller and feel more powerful. More manly. I miss cowboy boots.

My Partner

I was reading a column in the USA Today (the preferred paper of consultants everywhere) and the author referred to his partner. My first reaction was to wish he could just call his "partner" husband. But his partner would then call him husband, and how descriptive is that?

My stream of consciousness quickly turned to Lisa and me. Husband and wife. How descriptive is that? I think it describes what we did on December 31, 1997, but partner describes what we are every day. Sounds right.

Democracy Loses a Battle

"The right to freedom of thought and expression...cannot entail the right to offend the religious sentiment of believers."
-- Vatican statement re Mohammed cartoons


The State Department called the drawings "offensive to the beliefs of Muslims" and said the right to freedom of speech must be coupled with press responsibility.
-- As reported by Yahoo News

By placing restrictions on freedom, it no longer is freedom. A few demonstrators have caused more damage in the past few days than Al Qaeda has in the past decades. Our ability to speak clearly, openly, and frankly is the foundation upon which everything else is built. This foundation is critical and should be defended vigorously.

Cindy, Cindy, Cindy

Did you really get kicked out before the speech even started? Did you plan that? Keep the t-shirt hidden and then show it DURING the speech. While the CAMERAS are rolling. You could have been the story, but now you are just a footnote.

Next time, grab a couple of high school kids as advisors. They could teach you quite a bit about using passive/aggressive behavior to tweak the nose of authority. Or just rent "Home Alone". That kid was a brilliant little prankster.