Still More Kansas Trivia

"South of Ashland, the Rock Island Bridge is the longest of its kind. It measures 1,200 feet long and is 100 feet above the Cimarron River."

What this trivia tidbit doesn't tell you is (1) what kind of bridge it is, (2) what type of traffic it carries, (3) where it really is, and the name of the bridge. The answers are (1) steel deck truss, (2) rail traffic (For those who have never heard of the Rock Island Railroad, it's a pretty good road.), (3) Seward County along side US Highway 54 about 11 miles northeast of Liberal in Southwest Kansas, and (4) Samson of the Cimarron. It is nowhere near Ashland. Some cub reporter or intern must have done the research for the trivia sheet the El Dorado Times paid money for. They should get part of their money back.

Now, do you have the full picture? Probably not, because to see the bridge immediately tells you that it is something special. It's a beast of a bridge on concrete pylons and seems to go on forever. It's the type of bridge that, if you're a photographer, you pull over and take a picture of it. For a look at the bridge and some more facts, click here.

The facts, ma'am. Just the facts.

President Bush, after having a shoe hurled at him by an Iraqi TV reporter, quipped that all he knew was that the shoe was a size 10. On the morning news on the KC affiliate of ABC, the morning anchor said that a size 10 shoe was thrown at President Bush. Really? The producer, writer and anchor should have questioned the assertion that the shoe was in fact a size 10. No one, not even the beady-eyed Bush, can tell the size of a shoe as it whizzes by one's head, especially when ducking to avoid being hit. When I watch and listen to the TV news all I want is the facts, not quips reported as facts. Who writes the crap these news anchors read? Idiots, that's who. It's time that TV stations started making an IQ test part of their hiring process.

Changing History

Last week, on CBS's Sunday Morning program, the announcer said that Harvey Milk's tenure on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors was a year that changed history. It's common to say that something changed history. I'll say it was surely a year that made history, but you really can't change history. Saying that something changed history is technically impossible. History is the past and you can't change the past. To quote, Omar Khayyam, as adapted by Edward Fitzgerald's in the Rubaiyat:

"The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ, Moves on:
nor all your Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all your Tears wash out a Word of it.

Fox News: Astounding Comments

I was channel surfing, looking for some better content, when I happened upon Fox News and heard a so-called Republican contributor named Andrea astoundingly say "The New Deal didn't work. It was called the Great Depression." Later, in the same "news" segment, concerning how to jump start the economy, she said there was, "a transportation bill that built a bridge to nowhere." She's on the wrong network. She belongs on the Tonight Show's Jaywalk All-stars.

Pre-Election Musings

Tomorrow is the day when all the hype is done, when the ballots are cast and when the winner is known.

The advertisements have been extraordinary for their hyperbole. In case you don’t know what hyperbole means, it means extravagant exaggeration and that’s what we have. The Republican National Committee is the out-of-control spin-master, like claiming a budget resolution vote by many Democrats (and Republicans, too, but that is forgotten) was a vote for the highest tax increase ever. It doesn’t stop there. Obama is said by the RNC as not ready to lead; and yet he has been the spearhead for one of the best political campaigns ever. If the way he has conducted himself during the campaign is any indication of how he will behave as president, I am satisfied that he will be up to the demands of the office. A remark by Obama to “Joe, the Plumber” that spreading the wealth in the economy was a laudable goal has been twisted into accusations of being a socialist and, by some, a Marxist. The only thing that I fault Obama for is not first asking “Joe” whether the $250,000 revenue he claimed the plumbing business he would buy was gross or net. I suspect it was gross revenue, because a one or two person could generate that much but not enough to earn that kind of taxable income. Just do the math: 250 work days per year times $1,000 billed per day or about $100 per hour including wages, equipment, supplies, travel, etc. That question of gross or net would have exposed Joe as a man without a case for worrying about a tax rate on incomes over $250,000. Too bad the news media people weren’t smart enough to ask that question. I will admit that the McCain campaign made the most of it, but no spin will make up for the VP selection of the “You betcha” gal from Wasilla, AK. If that’s McCain’s idea of judgment, I hope he doesn’t exercise it as President. If McCain’s judgment and erratic behavior in crisis (suspending a campaign to rescue the nation from financial disaster and not contributing a tinker’s damn to the solution) is any indication of how he behave as President, may divine providence help this country in its time of need, because nothing else will save us from his miscues.

If you can’t figure out who I’m voting for, you better re-read the above. Join me at the polls and “Go Obama”.