Weekly Recap

I was reading the paper this morning and found several articles to comment on. Some disturbing, some wonderful, some both. Where to begin...

If you live in WNY (I am not sure if this news hit nationally or not), you undoubtedly have heard about the woman who was badly beaten and abused by her husband for 50 minutes while her son videotaped the proceedings - at the urging of his father, her husband/abuser. Apparently, the abuser wanted to make sure she never forgot this "lesson" and if it was videotaped, he could replay it to remind her. That is disturbing. What good came of this? The man was just sentenced to 36 years - the longest sentence ever in a domestic violence case in which the wife was still alive. The man sees nothing wrong with his actions. Yeah, Attica might be the place for him. Meanwhile, the wife has agreed to let copies of the tape be distributed to police and domestic violence agencies in the hope that the tape may help other women escape her fate. Kudos to you and I hope for a swift recovery and a long, happy life.

Blizzards may now be getting a rating system similar to hurricanes and tornadoes. Woo Hoo! Now we can say, hey, I survived a category 5 blizzard. Actually, I did, I guess. The blizzard of '77 - arguable the most horrific blizzard to date - would have been a category 5 blizzard, according to the report I read. And to think I was almost 8 years old, enjoying every minute of it sledding in the backyard, building snow forts and having snowball fights. Of course, that was after the snow settled. No flooding, no damage to our home, no school - hooray! Speaking of snow - where is the snow? I was going to take up cross country skiing this winter. Good thing. I could get my bike out, my roller blades, hell, I can almost get the pool up.

Marriage. I understand the legal benefits of marriage, blah, blah, blah. What I don't understand is this damn obsession for women to get married as quickly as possible. Dear Abby was meting out advice to a woman who has been seeing her soulmate for the last 2 years. His argument is that a piece of paper doesn't mean they are more or less committed than not. She wants the wedding, the ring, the paper, the rest of the monkey business. I shouldn't be Dear Abby because my advice would be - shut your whiny ass up. If he is indeed your soulmate - who gives a flying rat's ass if you spend some ridiculous amount of money on a wedding, get some fancy pants ring, get the piece of paper? I don't know. Perhaps I am just cynical or just not interested in the ritual. I guess not being a god-fearing person does that to you.

Anheuser Busch is trying to do something different with their marketing strategy since people aren't so interested in beer anymore. I guess they don't do their research in Buffalo, because I am quite sure we are still drinking our share. This is funny for me to comment on since I cannot stand beer (yes, I am German and hate beer - get over it). It was unclear exactly what they were trying to do other than make beer more hip and progressive. People are drinking more wine, spirits, fancy drinks like martinis. Beer is falling by the wayside. I am not quite sure how you make beer more fancy. Unless you change your packaging, invest in microbrews, invest in other products, serve it on Brokeback Mountain. I think trying to take the same product and make it jazzier just isn't going to work. But then I don't have the $5 million a minute (for the Super Bowl) I read they are investing in this project. It is amazing to me the money that is spent to make us all alcoholics (as I sit here sipping wine).

G. W., G.W., G.W. So many things need to be said about you, I don't even know where to begin. Your State of the Union Address was fabulous. We are addicted to oil. WHAT? When did this happen? Countries around the world - particularly in Europe have been investigating and investing in alternate energy sources for decades. Why haven't we? What's the answer, G.W.? Health care. Yes, every person in this great country of ours should have quality health care. There is no excuse for mediocre care. What is your solution, G.W.? Environmental concerns. This goes along with the energy issue. G.W.? What's the solution? Can you even tell us if there is a problem? How does the earth look on your ranch in TX? I think in order to make a proper assessment, you should take another vacation there. Go ahead.

Evolution vs. Intelligent Design. That this is still being discussed blows my mind. As a scientist (hey, that B.S. degree give me license to call myself a scientist), evolution is more than just a series of guesses. Theories are more than a series of guesses. Intelligent Design is a nicely packaged way of saying "creationism." I am not averse at all to teaching ID in the classroom. I am averse to teaching it in biology or other science classes. I have long felt that students in high schools should learn about major world religions. At St. Bonaventure, they get it at the university level. Not everyone is that lucky. World religions are so important to so many people that to ignore them would be a disservice to students. Learning the basics about religions, that would include their myths- creation and others, is important. I don't think it violates the separation of church and state if it is taught in an unbiased manner - but therein lies the difficulty.

I think I have gone off enough for today. All of my rage contained in this lengthy post. Comment if you will. I will try to find something uplifting to discuss next time!