Consequences Don't Matter to Liberals

Warning! I am about to make broad generalizations about liberals. I do know 2 liberals who do not act the way I'm about to describe, but every other liberal I've ever met does act the way I'm about to describe. If you are an easily offended liberal, stop reading now!

Ok, you've been warned.

I've long maintained, probably spurred by my father, that liberals, in general, don't think about the consequences of their actions. They simply do what makes them feel good, without thinking of the impact on other people. For example, ask a liberal if they think we should continue to extend unemployment benefits to cover those who haven't yet found a job. Almost every liberal will say "yes, we should extend that." They won't think about the fact that the government can't pay for it, because we're broke and they won't think about the fact that unemployment benefits can actually be an incentive to stay unemployed. It feels good to be generous with other people's money, so they go with "yes, we should extend that."

Why that little rant? Well, because of this out of Highland Park, Illinois. The Assistant Superintendent, Suzan Hebson, cancelled a planned basketball trip to Arizona for the Girl's Varsity Team. Hebson cited safety concerns and said the trip "would not be aligned with our beliefs and values." Yet, if you listen Michael Evans, the father of one of the players on the now cancelled trip you get a different take.

"I'm not sure whose values and what values and what beliefs they're talking about. We were just going to Arizona to play basketball and our daughters were very disappointed to find out the trip had been canceled."

According to FoxNews, Evans said he also failed to understand why the school allowed so many other trips, but not this one. "The school has sent children to China, they've sent children to South America, they've sent children to the Czech Republic, but somehow Arizona is more unsafe for them than those places," he said. "The beliefs and values of China are apparently aligned, since they approved that trip."

Suzan Hebson is in public education so it would be pretty safe to assume she is a liberal. I can't confirm that, but there is other evidence of a liberal political stance. She has reportedly supported other controversial topics in the past, as you can see if you follow that link to a FoxNews story. Although the school district maintains this is not a political statement, this smacks of politics to any right thinking person (and hopefully some left thinking people). I'm sure this felt really good to Ms. Hebson when she made the decision. I'm sure she felt like she was "sticking it to Arizona and their evil new immigration law." But, I doubt she even considered, for more than a moment, that the students and their parents would disagree with this decision. She probably believes, like most liberals, that everyone thinks like she does.

But, she's wrong, and this is a bad decision. This is a once in a lifetime chance for these girls. They've been raising the money to go, they are excited to go, and now an administrator out to make a political point has just crushed that dream. This will stick with these kids...high school things tend to do that. For example, I never played the State High School Golf Tournament when I was in school...because I had 2 bad rounds early in my senior year, so the coach went a different direction. To this day I still think back and wish I would have gotten that opportunity. These girls are going to think about this for the rest of their lives to some degree or another.

The Highland Park school district should reverse this decision and let these girls go play basketball. If they are truly worried about safety, make the parents aware of the concerns and let the parents decide if they can go play. This is ridiculous, and sadly, perfectly illustrates that the majority of liberals don't think before they act, they just do what feels good to them!

The Kid Calling it a Career?

A couple of days ago, news broke that Seattle Mariner's outfield Ken Griffey Jr. missed a pinch hitting opportunity because he was sleeping in the clubhouse. Griffey (a.k.a "The Kid") has denied this, and the Mariners have denied this, but I'm not really sure why someone would make that up. It appears that Griffey, now 40 years old is sort of a lightning rod this year for the Mariners. The team is struggling, and many are questioning why he is still playing baseball when he is a shell of his former self.

I'm not a big baseball fan. In fact, I rarely get interested until the playoffs, and even then my interest is luke warm. When I was a kid though, things were a different story. I loved baseball, and really all sports. Ken Griffey Jr. was easily the best baseball player I ever watched play. He was brilliant at the plate and in the outfield, and he seemed like a really good guy. Griffey broke into the league at age 19 and was almost instantly great. His best years were with the Mariners in the 1990's. As a free agent in 2000, he went to play for his hometown Cincinnati Reds. In Cincinnati, the injury bug struck him and he was never the same player again.

Ken Griffey Jr. is one of the all time great baseball players, and in this steroid era there are very few suspicions about Griffey. He never bulked up like so many players in this era, and his body started to break down when he got older (like it does for most players not using steroids). A lot of people are calling for "The Kid" to retire, and it's hard to argue with them when Griffey has clearly lost so much of that skill he once possessed. But, he deserves to leave the game the way he wants to leave the game, and baseball will be worse for it when he finally does hang up the cleats.

Movie Review: Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant

I watched "The Vampire's Assistant" without very high hopes. I went into it having a hard time imagining John C. Reilly (usually in Wil Ferrell movies) as a Vampire. Perhaps it was a combination of low expectations, and a better than anticipated plot that actually turned "Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant" into a 4 star movie for me.

This movie is loosely based on the first couple of books in the "Cirque Du Freak" series by Darren Shan. Near as I can figure from some reading on Wikipedia, this movie sorta spans the first 3 books (if you trust Wikipedia). In this movie, teenager Darren Shan ends up becoming a half vampire after attending a Freak Show with his friend Steve. Now the assistant to Crepsley (John C. Reilly), Darren ends up being a key player in a coming war between the Vampires (the good guys) and the Vampanese (the bad guys).

The end of this movie definitely left it open for more movies. There are 12 books in all, so the options are there. I did like this movie. One reviewer on Netflix compared it to Harry Potter...I wouldn't go that far. I thought it was a little slow in the beginning, but picked up nicely about 35 minutes in. I liked John C. Reilly in something other than a Wil Ferrell movie...he was still funny, but did ok with the more serious role. Like I said, overall this is a 4 star movie.