The world lost a great man yesterday

I was heartbroken today to learn that former Johnson County football coach Bill Bonds succombed to his 10-year battle with cancer last night at the age of 49. It's often cliche to say this, but I honestly don't think you would find a finer gentleman than Coach Bonds. He never gave up and continued parting his lessons on the athletes he coached until his last breath. And for all those thousands of athletes, those lessons will stay with them. I never really had the chance to speak much with Coach Bonds. My contact with him was limited to taking messages on the phone from him while working at the Courier Herald in the sports department. But actions speak louder than words, and Coach Bonds lived life to the fullest with an unshakable faith in Jesus Christ. You didn't have to know him well to be impacted by him. Anyone that was ever around him has a story they were touched by. My heart hurts for his wife and children as well as the Johnson County and ECI communities. It's people like Coach Bonds that remind us that even when life throws you obstacles, you have to keep living it. Because you only get one shot. And it's ultimately up to you to how you will be remembered. Coach Bonds will be remembered as a man who cared and loved. And he was certainly loved by many as well.

The first score

As I prepare to celebrate 20 years of existence, I have some thoughts to share. As I've gotten older, I've wondered more and more what my purpose in life is and what I'm meant to do. Still, with plenty of growing up to do, I don't have a definite answer, but I think I'm heading in the right direction. One of my big passions is sports, whether playing them or watching. Sports to me, are capable of bringing people from all different backgrounds together in a way that I don't think anything else can. My other big passion is writing, so it's probably not a big surprise that the career I am seeking is a sports writer, perhaps even earning national recognition one day. The numerous compliments from teachers and people about my writing have only inspired me to continue to improve on my skills.

I am blessed to have a solid support system behind me from my family, a few teachers and adults that are close to me, my close circle of friends from Dublin and my three close friends from college, two of whom I have met this year. These people know who they are.

Red Skelton once said "we were put here to build and not destroy." So my goal in life is to help people and try my best to do my part in making the world a better place. I've seen some good and some bad, but mostly good. I'm not naive enough to think we can ever bring a complete end to injustice and violence, but as President Kennedy once said, it doesn't hurt to work towards that goal, stopping it wherever we can. To paraphrase the character Hiro Nakamura from one of my favorite television shows, Heroes, certain things are in God's hands. But for everything else, God has given us the gift of choice. Every hand we extend should be in kindness, and every blow we strike should be for justice.

So as I continue to go through changes and live life, here's to the next 20 years.

Peace,

Scotty

More Thoughts and Musings

* I can't understand for the life of me why Alex Rodriguez, a professional athlete, would inject himself with a substance some 36 times over the course of three years and not once think about what the product might do to him or if it was even legal.

* Many Atlanta fans were frustrated that the Braves were not able to land Ken Griffey Jr.. Quite a few felt like Griffey slighted the Braves. But there are many forces at work here. For starters, he is not the same Griffey he was three and four years ago when he returned from his first string of injuries. Looking back, it's a real shame injuries kept him from being the home run king. At best, Bobby Cox was looking at platooning Griffey with Matt Diaz in left field. And likely it would not have had a good ending. After being traded to the White Sox last year, Griffey went down with an injury. And though he may have liked the idea of playing in Atlanta for Bobby Cox and being only an hour through plane away from his kids, a return to Seattle probably is better for him - especially with the DH. For those who think the Braves were slighted by Griffey, maybe the blame should lay partly on Frank Wren. There seems to be many excuses for the Jake Peavy, AJ Burnett and Rafael Furcal situations, not to mention John Smoltz. Maybe it's Wren that isn't up to closing deals. However, let's give him credit for Derek Lowe. Instead the Braves landed Garret Anderson, who was one of the best hitters in the game a couple years ago. He'll be an upgrade, but I'm not sure if it'll be enough. The Braves needed a power-hitting left fielder to bat clean up. Anderson isn't going to give you all those, but if he stays healthy, he'll make plenty of contributions.

* Count me in for the people who want to see Slumdog Millionaire, which won eight oscars, including best picture.

* Speaking of the Oscars, what would we do without our buddy Sean Penn? For those of you that need a refresher, Penn is a great actor (seriously) that has beaten his ex-wife and hung out with dictators like Fidel Castro and Saddam Hussein. In addition he makes it a point to lecture Americans on human rights. What a guy! Penn won the best actor role for his portrayal of Harvey Milk, the openly gay San Francisco city advisor back in the 70's who was assassinated. Let's take a look at Jesus - uh - Penn's acceptance speech with a little intersecting dialogue from yours truly.

Sean Penn: You commie, homo-loving sons-of-guns.

Scotty Thompson: You wife-beating fascist.

Sean Penn: I did not expect this, and I want to make it clear that I do know how hard I make it to appeciate me often.

Scotty Thompson: Aw shucks.

Sean Penn: But I am touched by the appreciation. I did scribble in the names in case you were commie, homo-loving sons-of-guns.

Scotty Thompson: You know me, Sean. Che, Che, what do you say?

Sean Penn: I think it's a good time for those who voted against the ban for gay marriage to sit and reflect and anticipate their great shame and the shame in their grandchildren's eyes if they continue that wave of support. We've got to have equal rights for everyone.

Scotty Thompson: I'm not opposed to gay marriage, but come on Sean. Some people of good conscience have a moral opposition to it. Doesn't make them any worse of a person than you.

Sean Penn: I'm very very proud to live in a country that is willing to elect an elegant man president.

Scotty Thompson: So if I didn't vote for Obama, I must be anti-gay? And being elegant makes him a good president?

* GCSU's homecoming concert featured Shop Boyz and Cartel. Shop Boyz, a rap group was high from the beginning of the show, and contributed nothing substantial. Cartel, a rock band, had good guitarists, a good drummer and a lead singer with a girly, whiny voice. Not much different from the average pop-punk/rock band out there today. But he was a very funny guy. Two of the memorable quotes from him: "Hurray for Pneumonia!" and "How many of you are here with another girl?" The girls my roommate and I were with did meet them downtown later that night, and they seemed like nice people. I think the college could make plenty of money if it had more concerts like that throughout the year. As a side note, the only casualty of the night was my glasses, which were bent by a girl crowd surfer, who landed on top of my head.

Random Thoughts

* Surely I'm not the only Georgia College student or faculty member that has some concerns over the fact that our university's president was offered extra bonuses to stay when we are already in a tough financial situation. Classroom sizes are increasing, there are still some technology upgrades needed, and there are hiring freezes in some departments. This just proves my point that Georgia College is really preparing us for all the stupid BS out there in the world.

* The fact that Coldplay's "Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends" didn't win Best Album at the Grammys is a travesty. Especially when you consider that the award went to "Raising Sand", a mediocre country/almost bluegrass album by Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant and Alison Krauss. But that's typically how it goes. The choice was the politically correct one. Refer to last year when Herbie Hancock won for his jazz album. There are however two sides to the sword. If we simply relied on the voters to pay attention to the public, the Jonas Brothers - who coincidentally and quite sadly would be improved by the addition of Britney Spears - and other suspect groups would be racking up.

* The Alex Rodriguez news is very disturbing and puts yet another taint on the game. A-Rod may have been the last shot to wipe Barry Bonds off the top of the home run list.

* Most rational people are opposed to the current stimulus bill because it is way too much wasteful spending and doesn't even come close to focusing on enough job creation. What's incredible is that Nancy Pelosi and some of her far-left pals aren't satisfied with the bill either. They want more spending.

* President Obama continues to preach about making Washington a post-partisan place. So why on God's green earth did he let the most partisan democrats write this bill?

*President Obama stated that not doing anything is not an option. Maybe not, but he still wonders who thought it'd be a bad idea for the government to play the main role in attempting to "stimulate" an economy. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin for starters.

* Quote of the day: "I think there ought to be a government booklet entitled 'Where to Stick It'. Now that I think of it, there is a government booklet like that. They send it to you on April 15th." - George Carlin

* Michael Phelps is catching quite a lot of flack for his bong and drinking incident, even though he is merely 23. Everybody talks about the role model he is supposed to be. Which is absolutely true. But so is the President, and our current one was hitting up weed and cocaine when he was Phelps' age, and that's ok? Also, the two presidents before him got into some illegal drugs as well.

* People who call Fox News a right-wing network in a country with a left-leaning president should ask themselves if that's the case, why is Fox continuing to dominate the ratings?

* Remember Jerimiah Wright's "chickens coming home to roost"? An earlier use of that expression came from Malcom X. He was referring to the Kennedy Assassination.

The Great BS

"Insanity: doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results"
- Albert Einstein

That's the only way I can characterize President Obama and Congress's plan to stimulate the economy by spending yet another 800-plus billion dollars when we're already in such a deep hole. So let's look at a few things in this latest 647-page insult to the American people.

1. $1 billion for Amtrack because yea, that works, right? Right?
2. $50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts? I'm all for preserving art, but really? I guess the Smithsonian's huge money goes in with this too.
3. $40 million for global warming research. Damn, I thought that was settled.
4. $2.4 billion for carbon capture demonstration projects, whatever the hell that is.
5. $650 million for digital TV conversion coupons? ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR FREAKING MINDS!?!
6. $4.9 billion to everyone's favorite voter fraud organization ACORN.

Which leads me to paraphrase political comedian Lewis Black, "We'd be better off if they just came to our door and pissed on our foot."

At what point do we say hell no? President Obama, God bless his soul, picked a guy who didn't pay his taxes at one time to head up the treasury. Oliver Stone couldn't come up with that. But what's worse is that Geithner used to lobby, and what's President Obama's big rule? No lobbyists in the administration. And twice now, he's broken his own rule.

But let's get back to this stimlus crap. President Obama, Speaker Pelosi, Sen. Reid, etc. have talked about the urgency to pass this bill quickly, not leaving much time to read it all and dissect it. Let's go to the quote vault again.

"Anytime you pass something that rapidly, you're bound to have mistakes."
- Barack Obama

Obama was talking about the PATRIOT Act being passed too rapidly, and he had a point. But suddenly, that concept doesn't apply anymore.

And finally, let's look at the petition to silence Rush Limbaugh. Silencing the opposition. Sound familiar to some other places?

Again, I didn't want to be so hard on Obama so soon, but he's hit the ground running, and he's making himself look like an idiot, well to me at least.

A Uniter or Divider?

No, I'm not talking about George Bush. I'm talking about Barack Obama. We are about a week into the 44th president's administration, and I am far from impressed (surprised, surprised). I don't want to ramble on too much, but let's go down a quick list here. At times, I will directly address our chief executive.

1. He issued an executive order to close Guantanamo Bay. Okay, that's fine as long as there are certain conditions. And the main one is THAT YOU HAVE A PLACE TO TRANSFER THEM TO, IDIOT! You campaigned for almost two years and campaigned on the idea of closing the place down. So why in the HELL did you not have a backup place????

2. Obama, who is supposed to be the one to usher in a new era of bipartisanship in Washington said that Republicans "shouldn't be listening to Rush Limbaugh and expect to get anything done." He also told republican lawmakers "I won. I'm the President." Good ole bipartisanship there for you.

3. He wants to cure the economic crisis and the huge debt by SPENDING MORE MONEY!

4. He's supposed to have a transparent government with no lobbyists in his administration. And yet, he has a deputy defense secretary who has lobbied big time in the past. He didn't allow cameras to see him sign the executive order to give federal funding to international charities that provide abortion services. And he has grown irritated with reporters that ask him tough questions.

Hypocrite anyone? Arrogant ass? I know it's early, but it is certainly not hopeful, and there sure isn't much change, at least good change.

Exit Bush, Enter Obama

I was amused at how many people watched President Bush's farewell address Thursday night and then turned around and said something to the effect of "there's the Bush I voted for" or "there's the Bush that was missing." In reality, he wasn't that much different from what he's been in the past. If at any time he was different, it was in his final press conference, where he aggressively defended his decisions, specifically in regards to his terrorism policies and Iraq policies. Perhaps the best, or at least most important thing Bush said the other night was in regards to the years following the September 11 terrorist attacks:

"As the years passed, most Americans were able to return to life much as it had been before 9/11. But I never did. Every morning, I received a briefing on the threats to our nation. I vowed to do everything in my power to keep us safe."

I believe him, and for that, I think we can all be thankful, for that may have been the best accomplishment of his presidency. It's no question that the Bush presidency has left several less-than-desirable things: massive deficits, energy problems, education problems, unresolved immigration problems (a practical endorsement of amnesty for illegals), support for McCain-Feingold (throwing the first amendment out the window), etc. But Iraq will likely be the issue Bush is remembered by. And anyone who thinks they completely know whether or not that war was the right decision is delusional to put it lightly. (For the record, count me in with the less than thrilled crowd, but not the narcissistic "blood for oil" people).

History will judge George W. Bush. Abraham Lincoln was a rather unpopular president, and Harry S. Truman was widely unpopular as he left office. And yet as we now look back on history, those two men show up in virtually every "top 10 presidents of all time" lists. I'll leave Bush with this summation. He was a decent man, lacking in some critical leadership areas to be a truly effective president. He didn't always surround himself with the best people. I believe he had a set of principles and at least tried to follow them. He received very harsh treatment from the media and the opposing party, some of which he deserved, some of which he didn't.

On Tuesday, Barack Obama takes over. The general idea from CNN I got this morning was that we should all be excited. As a friend commented to me, if anything else, it's history. I'm usually pretty careful to be "excited" by politicians. As a matter of fact, none have ever excited me. And I can't forget that I strongly disagree with several of the ideas which President Obama campaigned on. On the other hand, I've watched him tack closer to the political center in the last two months in the decisions and statements he has made. That could make me feel even more comfortable with him, but I'm not one to get complacent either. I know two things will certainly happen. Apologies will be made for any shortcomings in at least his first year or two (aka: Bush will be anointed the scapegoat), and there will be a double standard in how he isn't criticized for putting on such a ridiculously expensive inauguration in bad economic times (well more expensive than Bush's even though Bush was thoroughly grilled).

But putting policies aside for the moment, Obama has great potential. I agree that this can indeed convey a positive message for Black Americans, and particularly black youth. But let's not kid ourselves. Too many people voted for Barack Obama solely because he was black, and too many people voted against him because he was black. "How much is too many," you might ask. The answer is at least one. Because voting for someone with a disregard for principles and ideas and solely on skin color is not just a waste of a vote, but a thorough rejection of what Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights movement stood for. With that in mind, we can't ignore the progress that has been made. I'm not merely talking about electing a black president for the first time. I'm talking about the millions of people who made a conscience decision of whether or not to vote for him, regardless of what he looked like. In that sense, Dr. King would be, and we can all be, proud.

I do indeed hope that Obama becomes one of our great presidents. But for now, we can only hope and support him.