THE JERKS HAVE TAKEN OVER

You and I are surrounded by jerks.  Look to the left, to the right, turn around, back to the front - all jerks.

I'm watching a movie starring Tom Cruise.  I think he is a jerk.  He had it made until he showed off his wife Nicole Kidman in a terrible film, displaying terrible judgement.  Since he and Nicole divorced, and he jumped on Oprah's couch, Cruise has lost all credibility with his fan base except maybe for Rosie O'Donnell.  I've lost track of who Nicole is with now, but she hasn't exactly been a stable act.  She's kind of a jerk, too, but no where near being in Tom's class.

Speaking of Rosie, she's a jerk, too.  Quitting her job after arguing with the All-American Elizabeth on THE VIEW was just an overt expression of her innate stupidity.  She hasn't worked much sense has she?  Easy money for an easy job, and where is she?  In lesbian land!  Rosie and Ellen DeGeneres are poster girls for twisted affections.  At least DeGeneres has some comedic talent.  She needs to take dancing lessons, however.  Thinking of THE VIEW, Barbara Walters is approaching the jerk stage.  She's had a terrific career, many firsts, mega money, but she needs to retire.  Like an aging athlete, she needs to announce her retirement and vacate the premises.  It's almost to late to leave the stage gracefully.

Jerry Springer is a jerk.  No explanation needed.  A-Rod is a jerk, but there's hope for him if he matures.  His bosses, the Steinbrenners are potential jerks, but they haven't yet crossed the threshold.  The Yankees have employed many jerks the past few years including his jerkiness King Clemens.  Let's see if they have learned.  If not, they'll be labeled jerks, too.  People who chant, "Yankees suck!" are jerks.  Outside being rude and crude, they're missing the richness and subtleties of a great rivalry with the Red Sox who have no jerks since Manny Ramirez hit the road for L.A.  Thinking of L.A., why did Joe Torre ever write that "kiss and tell" book.  A great manager who had my respect, he has now entered the land of jerkiness.  I'm wondering what other jerks the Dodgers have on that team.

The Congress is full of jerks.  Many, many of our business leaders have turned out to be jerks.  Can you figure out Bernie Madoff?  A humongous jerk!  He knew what the endgame would be, and he kept up his devastating charade.  Along with Clemens, Bernie is another King Jerk.  

The National Football League has too many jerks to mention.  But Donte Stallworth's hitting and killing that pedestrian with his Bentley certainly makes him the jerk of the week.  

Terrell Owens might get off the jerk list now that he's in Buffalo.  I rather doubt it, though.  The Buffalo Bills have been on the NFL jerk list for about seven consecutive years now.  I see TO joining them rather than uplifting them.  Hopefully not.

Octomom is a jerk.  You can use her as a symbol for the right to life or for the necessity of abortion.  Either can work with the proper argument.  However, she, personally, is a jerk.  No job, no income, no husband, takes huge advantage of her family:  to put herself in that situation, she has to be a Queen Jerk.  

The former president of the 158 year-9ld Lehman Brothers is a jerk.  Imagine running one of Wall Street's premier organizations into the ground!  The jerk was working out in the Lehman gym a few days after the disaster.  A former employee walked up to him and punched him out.  We still have a few heros.  I wish I knew his name.

Hopefully, the upcoming blog can discuss heros.  There don't seem to be many around just yet.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

There are times when I wonder, I truly wonder, how some people think. What logic do they employ to arrive at a particular decision? How can they come to terms with their justification of a thought process gone awry?

A case in point is the German government’s decision to construct a Nazi museum on the site of certain World War II atrocities in Berlin. Note the enthusiasm:

The site "stands like no other place in Berlin for terror and genocide," Berlin Mayor Klaus Wowereit told reporters while marking the start of work. With the new center, he said, "one of the most important, authentic places of remembrance in Berlin will gain in stature."

I’m sure the Mayor and others mean well in constructing a thirty-three million dollar museum:

"We more than owe this to the victims of the Nazis' regime of terror, on whose fate decisions were made here."

However, these ideas often mutate and morph into something quite unintended. This well intentioned idea will in the not-so-distant future become a focal point for neo-Nazi and neo-terrorists who will use the site as a propaganda vehicle for their own purposes.

The thought process is warped - justified partly by the proximity to the Holocaust Museum. The museum is a wonderful tribute to the millions of Jews who were killed during the war. An official study site for Nazism, the root cause of the Holocaust is brain cramp in the collective thought process.

CLEANING OUT A DESK DRAWER OF MY MIND

I AM SO VERY TIRED OF HEARING

about Larry Craig. It's time and that time is now for him and his wide stance to move on to other men's rooms flushed in blissful anonymity.

about A-Rod and where he might go after leaving the Yankees. I have an idea of where he can go.

about Newt Gingrich who had his chance, but who broke his contract with America. He was a great idea-man but a poor leader. Note the past tense. Let's keep it that way.

about George Bush's poll ratings. He is a strong leader who doesn't waver. Has he made mistakes? Yes. He doesn't pay attention to polls, and neither should we.

about Heather Mills and Paul McCartney and their divorce. Get it over with.

about the Patriots and videogate. They were doing what every other team did. Did they break the rules? Yes, but in a technical sense. There was absolutely no advantage for the game being recorded.

about Kobe Bryant and the Lakers. Trade him. Get it over with.

about Britney Spears. Get her a new circle of advisors and friends who will help her steer a straight course.

about Paris Hilton and her trip to Rwanda. Let's buy her a ticket, one-way.

There, I feel better! But do you get the idea that our news organizations have become mired in drivel and by extension - us?

Go Sox! Now there's a story I never tire of hearing.

I IS NOT HAPPY W/OUR PREZ ENG LANG

OUR LANGUAGE IS UNDERGOING A METAMORPHOSIS THAT IS NOT, IN MY OPINION, A POSITIVE CHANGE. Language has always changed - from the king's English version of, "Wither thou goest, Morris?" might now be phrased, "Yo Mo where you headed?" While not terrible, it certainly is a comedown from when the written language flourished and flowered as the main means of communication.

Technology has changed that. Instant messaging, the present coin of the realm, has a sub-culture that advocates speed over accuracy. In fact clever abbreviations and understandable circumventing of grammar rules are most appreciated and emulated. "Skool a bore id rath be @ home w/da box can u mt w/me @ lnch" Also spellcheck has turned us all into astute grammarians with the push of a button. Many do not feel that they have to study the rules of captialization, punctuation, and grammar - why bother?

In a more civilized mode but no less frustrating is the use of nominative and objective case pronouns. "My brother and me went to the mall yesterday afternoon." "That was such a thrill for my boyfriend and I."

Bill Cosby has risen to the fore lately emphasizing the need for correct English rather than the street corner lingo favored by city-dwelling blacks and wanna-be's.

The large wave of immigration may also have contributed to the quick change with the combination of native languages and English with noted shortcuts of the loss of conjunction use and the use of subject and verb agreement.

While change in language is inevitable, even good, the assault under which it is now struggling is way too much and way too fast.

Whadda ya tink?

How About Those Sox? Red That Is.

Though I'm bleary eyed from watching the first two games of the 2007 version of the World Series, I'm still excited about the Red Sox probably winning their second W.S. in four years. Being a life-long Fenway fan, I'm not used to this high living. I'm used to angst caused by falling short, by broken promises, and by under performance. This team is gutsy, determined, smart, and effective. I do believe that they're going to deliver.

Having to cut this short, do you realize that there are only seven members of this year's team that were in the 2004 World Series? Can you name them? I'll supply the answers next blog.

John Thomas

From Yankee Pride to Yankee Shame

The Yankees obviously felt that Joe Torre needed them more than they needed Joe Torre. Good for him for walking on the insulting deal that they offered him. While I would love to be insulted with a five million dollar payday, the point in the nether world of baseball salaries is that a paycut is never warranted.

It certainly was not warranted in Joe Torre's case. The Yanks started the year in a funk and ended it in a blaze before predictably losing the Cleveland series. Not because Joe wasn't a first-tier manager but because the Yanks upstairs-brain-trust didn't supply him with enough pitching in the off-season. A play-off team with good pitching that can somewhat cap the prodigious Yankee offense will win a post-season series with them every time.

I'm a Red Sox fan, but I take no satisfaction in seeing the Yanks descend into turmoil. Posada, Rivera, Rodriguez are each free agents and are quite apt to sign elsewhere. They have been a great organization with a great history that formulated the term Yankee Pride. I think the way they treated Joe Torre is a Yankee shame.