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Okay, I know it’s wrong for adults to have sex with teens. It’s abuse. But I’ll be damned if when I was 14 or 15 a 24 year old (and from what I can tell, kind of cute) female teacher wanted to have sex with me, that I wouldn’t keep my mouth shut. But no, my parents had to send me to an all boys, Catholic school where the only women were nuns! Okay, in all honesty, when I was 14, if a 24 y/o teacher came on to me, I’d probably be too nervious to know what to do.

So picture you’re at the hospital for some routine surgery. You’re in your room enjoying your cube of green jello when in wanders a bear. The human brain can handle most things thrown at it, but normally if they are within the expected realm of expectation. A bear in a hospital is not within that realm. It’s so far outside the realm, it’s likely to cause you to think you are dreaming. Poor bear.

Oh, wait, nevermind, I could care less about Nick and Jessica having “tensions”.

The Supreme Court copped out with the Pledge of Allegiance case and dropped the case completely because the father isn’t the legal guardian of the child. And that’s probably a good thing. While I agree with lower court rulings that said they Pledge was unconstitutional because of the words “Under God”, I felt it was a nit picky issue and one that could have put a serious rift in the country, pitting the Traditionalists against the Interpretists. Small issues like this lead to bigger fights. In the end, having to utter the words “Under God” is no worse then forcing kids to take the pledge in the first place.

I believe that the Pledge has lost its real meaning. When children are forced to take a government-mandated pledge, they are effectively being indoctrinated into a mindset without choice or ability to decide on its merit, thereby reducing the value of the Pledge to an unquestioned routine instead of making it a meaningful ritual. I believe that the Pledge should be taken voluntarily, otherwise it is no better then any other government-mandated pledge: meaningless and potentially dangerious. The vast majority of the people in the US come from 2 or 3 generation immigrants. These are families that came to America because they believed in its system of Government and the freedoms and opportunities available. This resulted in a feeling of loyalty to the USA that can’t be duplicated by forcing people to take a pledge without understanding it. In the end, the meaning of the Pledge is lost because the children learn to recite it without questioning it or understand its true meaning.

Gas has just gotten absurd. I was watching the news and they were doing a story on “cheap gas”. The reporters were talking about a Costco station that had gas at a low price of $1.97. I’m getting old, because I can remember a time when gas was less the a dollar. Gas is still too damn expensive. That’s why I take the train to work.

I lost my glasses on a trip to California last month. These are my prescription lenses and represent the most costly fashion statement I own (at $600). Fortunately, work subsidized a good portion of the cost, so even if I lost them, I wasn’t out that much cash. Still, they were nice glasses and it a pity to lose them. So, with little hope, I called the hotel, car rental company, and the airline looking to see if they had been found. The first two were a bust, but the airline said they had to check a couple of places to see if they had turned up and that they would call me later. Again, with little hope, I assumed they were lost. About an hour later, I got a call from the airline. The glasses were in their Santa Clara lost and found. Three days later, they arrived, intact, via FedEx. Somebody nice had turned them in.

Last week, I lost my keys. Normally this wouldn’t be a big deal, but I also keep a USB disk on it for quick file transfer at work and to take various personal documents home around with me. So, having lost the keys potentially could have been bad, especially if I hadn’t deleted these bits of information. Fortunately, again, someone nice had turned in the keys to the shuttle driver I take to work. Now I have an encrypted USB disk.

So why am I telling these two semi-related stories? Well, because I believe, at their core, most people are good and that turning in my lost items shows this. I don’t believe in the Christian (and not so Christian) concept of original sin and that people are bad trying to be good. If that were so, why would they try to be good in the first place? I think a better answer is that people are good, they just forget what is right and wrong sometimes.

Isn’t a pilgrimage supposed to be a spiritual journey? Looking at Jenna Bush, it looks more like a charity walk. She has hiking shoes, shorts, water bottles, some sort of tube to her head. It like she’s doing it for the distance instead of the meaning. Of course, this may be the start of a new vacation trend: Pilgram Vacations!

Come on down to the Middle East and take the journey millions do every year! You don’t have to be Muslem to go to Mecca on our “March to Mecca” tour. Start off clean with a ritual bath to cleanse you of your sins. Then dawn your two piece white outfit proudly stating your purity. Learn the albiyah prayer in our five star hotels along the route. And if your not comfortable walking, our guides will arrange air travel (and no one will be be wiser with our Photoshop edits). It’s a trip of a lifetime!

I’m a fan of Ronald Reagan. Not because I agree with his basic beliefs, but because I believe that at his heart he was a good man who tried to remain loyal to his principals. He set an example for the type of person a leader should be: articulate, charismatic, and smart enough to surround himself with smarter people. I just hope Arnold doesn’t try to follow in his footsteps.

And boy, were my arms tired!