In the news…



Not that much going on at home this week that I can talk about here in the paper, so I turned to the internet for column ideas.

The first story I read was about people saying how the Weather Channel and politicians overrated Hurricane Irene. Critics said that the storm wasn’t close to being as bad as everyone predicted, and there should not have been so many evacuations. My reaction to the story was “Um, what?”

Thirty eight people died from this storm so far, and it was overrated? Just how many people have to die for these idiots to constitute a bad storm?

Now listen, the first thing you have to do is take the Weather Channel with a grain of salt. They will over-hype any storm, because they fight for ratings just like every other television channel. That’s totally understandable.

And politicians? Well, they have to scream “Run!”- especially after Hurricane Katrina. You remember Katrina, right? When politicians, weathermen, scientists and everyone else spent a week begging, pleading and doing everything they could to get the people of New Orleans and the surrounding areas to evacuate. We all know that a lot of people didn’t evacuate, and the government came out looking like the bad guy in the end. So yes, Hurricane Irene might have been a little overrated by those in charge. Do you blame them?

As I was writing the paragraphs above, I had my television on CNN listening to the news. A religious nut came on, saying that Hurricane Irene was some kind of payback from God for the way we live and act in this country. Or maybe it was a lesson of some kind. A divine occurrence, I think he called it. I stopped typing long enough to wonder 1) Holy cow, it’s 2011 and people still think like that? And 2) Why is there a religious nut on my news channel? I’m not watching Fox News, I’m watching CNN. I shake my head at the thought of some CNN producer thinking this was a good idea.

I turn my attention back to the internet and see that Florida has recently passed a law that requires those that sign up for welfare to pass a drug test. If they pass the drug test, they can receive help. If not, they get no help until they pass the drug test next year. Several other states are thinking about passing this law- sadly, Texas is not one of them.

Critics of the law say that it is an invasion of privacy, and it doesn’t save much money in the long run because less welfare recipients than you think take illegal drugs. I say of course they should be drug tested. Every job I’ve ever had required me to pass a drug test. If an accident happens at work, I have to take a drug test. Most of the time when you sign up for insurance, you take a drug test. Not one time have I been offended, or considered it an invasion of my privacy. Stop trying to live off of someone else, and you can get high all you want. Drugs don’t bother me one bit, mooching off of my tax dollars does.

And finally, I read that Dancing With The Stars has announced their new lineup of B-level entertainers that will dance this season. Now, except for Erin Andrews and Kim Kardashian dances, I’ve not watched ten minutes of this show in all the years it’s been on. It doesn’t interest me in the least. But then I see that Nancy Grace is on the roster, and I start daydreaming about her embarrassing herself so bad that she would quit her show and never come back to t.v. again…

Hmm, divine occurrence?



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