back to the obvious

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In economic hard times, as more and more people rein in the frivolities of their physical and mental lifestyles, the examples of "keeping it real," so to speak, seem to gain currency. Bit by bit, we are pushed back to what was never missing.

-- In California and elsewhere yesterday, the wind made its mark. The wind. How simple to ignore in the pursuit of a fine car, a promotion, or a vacation with all the trimmings. And yet where the wind speaks at speeds up to 123 miles per hour, suddenly there is a reality check. In Pasadena, "Vince Mehrabian, the general manager at A&B Motor Cars, estimated eight Lexus, Cadillac and other luxury cars had been destroyed by fallen limbs." 

-- At George Mason University School of Law, where students are buried with the tensions that come with exams, 15 visiting puppies helped to keep things real: “Especially this time of the year, law school seems to ruin your life,” said Allison Tisdale, 24, a third-year from Texas who didn't go home for Thanksgiving because she had to study. Holding a squirming puppy, she said, “you get to be human again.”

-- Another canine reminder popped up in Utah, where a duck hunter left his shotgun in the boat while he went to tend to some decoys. His dog stepped on the gun and shot his owner in the ass.

-- At the other end of the keep-it-real spectrum, the wheels of frivolity keep on turning. The Action Comics debut that featured the first appearance of the character Superman sold for $2.16 million at auction. The comic cost 10 cents when it was published in 1938.

-- In the Congress whose venal idiocies seem never to end, a bill has been offered that would allow advertisers to call people on their cell phones. The bill has little chance of passage, but just the idea that someone would offer up the possibility gives some indication of the lengths anyone might go to in an effort to prove that the money they have received from donors is money well spent. Another example of 'the best democracy money can buy.' Where is the wind when you need it?

-- And there is something compelling about the willingness by companies and municipalities to break their contractual word to employees who had been promised pensions. The companies or municipalities make a promise and then, when they find out they have made a mistake, it is the people to whom they have made the promise who must bear the burden ... the companies and municipalities get to go forward unscathed. If America's business 'leaders' need an example of why they are sometimes seen as untrustworthy sacks of shit ... well, this is a pretty good example.
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