The TLPC editorial on yesterday’s performance by The Who

The Who, from The Kids Are Alright

Televisions all over the country were tuned in for the Super Bowl halftime appearance yesterday. I just got done reading that the viewership for Super Bowl 44 was the highest in recorded history. We were also treated to a performance by The Who.

When I’m not blogging or writing (or playing with Moosie, Mojo and Oscar, or talking to The Dauphin,) I’m on Twitter. I can give it up at any time. Yeah. During yesterday afternoon’s festivities, Craig Terrill of the Seahawks Tweeted something to the effect that those who didn’t care for the performance were “haters”. He likes Pete Townsend’s windmill guitar move. While I have some affection for Mr. Terrill (defense rules, baybee, especially Seahawks D,) this is my response to him, and pretty much everyone else.

When I was younger, (and dinosaurs roamed the earth,) The Who were considered one of the preeminent bands in the world. Think the Stones, Led Zeppelin, etcetera. The reason why The Who’s performances were not to be missed? Their music captured the rebellion, fury and passion of a generation determined to live a different life than their parents did. If you didn’t get the point from their lyrics, they’d smash their instruments at the end of the set. Maybe this seems like a waste of a perfectly good guitar. At the same time, it’s hard for me to imagine a couple of exceedingly wealthy sixty-somethings singing the following:

We’ll be fighting in the street
With our children at our feet
And the morals that they worship will be gone

The anthem that millions of people have listened to a thousand times, the lyrics that cause people in our age group to shake their heads ruefully, or pump a fist in fury,

Meet the new boss
Same as the old boss

Roger Daltrey’s scream of rage and frustration, are oddly empty when delivered in a carefully sanitized, corporate-approved network performance. Obviously, a twenty-minute musical performance won’t transport us back to the time it was more important to spend the last money you had on concert tickets and some kind of mind-altering substance. We’re adults, and we should behave ourselves, so to speak. I wonder, though, how those who wrote the songs feel about performing them now, when they are obviously so removed from that mindset. I also wondered how the younger people watching felt about seeing guys old enough to be their grandpa singing a song that should end with an extended middle finger instead of yet one more ad for Bud Light.

Where is the outrage?

If there was ever a time the lyrics to “Won’t Get Fooled Again” spoke to a generation, it’s right now.

Don’t get me wrong. I liked the light show. The concert sent me scurrying off to You Tube later that evening to listen to some of The Who’s songs I still love. (“Love Reign O’er Me”, anyone?) I just wonder what would have happened if, after he played the last note of the last song, Pete Townsend would have smashed his guitar one more time.

-S
Excerpted lyrics copyright Pete Townsend, used for editorial purpose only

Baylen Brees and his daddy were busy yesterday

Brittany, Baylen and Drew Brees

photo: www.nola.com

One of the more touching moments of last night’s Super Bowl came when Drew Brees held his baby son, Baylen, high in the air after the game was over. Mr. Brees appeared to be crying. Baylen was pretty interested in the confetti that continued raining down over the stadium.

Mostly, when you take away the hoopla, the thousands in the stadium and the millions watching on TV, it was a guy with his wife and son, celebrating the biggest moment of his life so far.

Two more members of the New Dat Nation congratulate the Saints, and the city of New Orleans!

-S

Dear Sprint, I hate you. Love, Strategerie

Color me shocked. Another billing foul-up, and definitely in Sprint’s favor.

Hey, Sprint, thanks for the $18 “upgrade” fee. Considering the fact I paid for the new phones on the spot (and was operating sans contract when we made this decision,) I can’t understand how you can legally charge this.

I’d also like to thank you for conveniently forgetting the “credit union discount”, which will now take 2-3 billing cycles to kick in. Your customers aren’t given the opportunity to eye what’s in your activation steps before being handed a phone; you can bet the next time I sign a cell phone contract, I’m going to insist on seeing EVERYTHING that goes into that computer.

Most of all, you suck. Truly.

-S

Baltimore’s homeless donate $14.64 to Haitian earthquake relief

They’re still digging out in Haiti. Anderson Cooper is still there, and still reporting. People are still living in the streets; their homes are rubble.

It seems the homeless of Baltimore are even moved by their plight. If the following doesn’t make the rest of us choke up just a little, I’m not sure what would.

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bal-md.homeless30jan30,0,3352899.story

Donations for Haiti have poured in to the American Red Cross of Central Maryland from a range of sources. Nothing, though, has stood out like the coins and crumpled dollar bills that spilled from one envelope.

That gift – $14.64 – came from the pockets of homeless people at a downtown Baltimore shelter.

“We were all weepy-eyed,” recalled Red Cross volunteer coordinator Bobbie Jones, who was at the front desk when the donation arrived.

Public relations director Linnea Anderson got teary, too. “Just the thought of those people huddled together in a shelter and seeing a need beyond themselves is enough to give anybody chills,” she said. “What a remarkable example of the human spirit.”

This reminds me of the Bible story I heard at Sunday School as a child — the widow’s mite. She gave everything she had. There is something amazing about those who have so little to begin with, but want to share with people who have even less.

I think my family can find $14.64 to donate in the names of those at that Baltimore shelter. If you’d like to join us, please click on the following, or give to the charity of your choice.

www.standwithhaiti.org

www.doctorswithoutborders.org

www.unicef.org

-S

Quickly, before I get sued: It seems that maybe the reports of Patrick Kerney’s retirement from the NFL are, well, premature.

There I was, halfway through a chocolate bar as big as my head, and cleaning up the wadded-up box of Kleenex I went through this morning at the terrible news, when a ray of hope appeared.

It seems that NBC Sports may be incorrect.

http://blog.seattlepi.com/football/archives/192759.asp

Despite a report to the contrary, Seattle Seahawks defensive end Patrick Kerney did not throw a retirement party last week and has no plans to walk away from the game.

Pro Football Talk website is reporting that Kerney held a retirement party last week and speculation has spread rapidly.

But a source close to Kerney denied that report Friday and said he is not planning to retire, which isn’t surprising given the former Virginia All-American is still under contract for more than $5 million for next season and just underwent elbow surgery to get ready for his return.

It’s good to admit it when I’m wrong, wrong, WRONG, and it seems in this instance, I was wrong.

And The Dauphin breathes a huge sigh of relief. After all, he’d like it if I stopped crying long enough to take Moosie to the park this weekend!

-S

Patrick Kerney has evidently decided to retire from the NFL. My tears will never, ever end.

Patrick the Magnificent

photo: www.nflplayers.com

How’s that for a title, huh?

Patrick Kerney, my favorite NFL player, had a retirement party last week. The people who attended are evidently surprised it didn’t hit the media before this morning. My invitation, of course, must have gotten lost in the mail.

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2010/01/29/patrick-kerney-held-retirement-party/?related=1

Calling from the road, Florio passed along that Seahawks defensive end Patrick Kerney held a retirement party last week.  Apparently, some of those in attendance are amused the media still has no idea.

It’s easy to look up his career stats, so I’m not going to repeat them. Mostly, I’m so grateful I got to attend his last game, and I’m sad I was too shy to ask him to sign the Kerney jersey I was wearing when I met him.

Have a great life, Patrick, and it was fun to watch you!

-S

It’s that time of year again: The Puppy Bowl is almost here!

Photo: www.animalplanet.com

Every year now, it’s a ritual. The rest of the country (and our household,) is watching the football game that interrupts the commercial breaks during Super Bowl Sunday. While we’re eating too much and rooting the Saints on this year, though, (WHO DAT) the DVR will be working silently in the background.

It’s Puppy Bowl time!

For those who’ve never experienced Animal Planet’s two hours of heart-melting charm (and at least one commercial that will make you cry,) the Puppy Bowl consists of twenty shelter pups, running and playing on a surface intended to resemble a football field. There are toys everywhere, a Water Bowl Cam, a kittens halftime show, and a game official who calls stuff like “excessive playfulness”.  Of course, Moose will be watching with me, even if The Dauphin decides he currently has an urgent errand in the next county. After all, that damn Pedigree commercial last year with the poor dog in the cage is part of the reason why Moose came to live at our house.

It’s fun for the whole family.

The game kicks off on Animal Planet on Sunday, February 7th at 3 p.m. Eastern time. Don’t miss it!

-S

South Carolina’s lieutenant governor compares helping the needy with “feeding stray animals”

Boys and girls, it’s Saturday night. I should be snuggling on the couch with The Dauphin. Right now, though, it’s time to use my little soapbox for good. The citizens of South Carolina need to know what kind of people run their state. Right now.

When the entire world is pulling together to help with the almost-unimaginable tragedy in Haiti, when we are dealing with the highest unemployment rate since the Great Depression in the USA, when it is proven that kids who actually get three nutritious meals a day, the best public education possible, and at least one dedicated, caring parent in the home and on the job, their chances of a successful adulthood are exponentially better, we’re still dealing with attitudes like the following.

http://www.thesunnews.com/575/story/1276292.html

Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer has compared giving people government assistance to “feeding stray animals.”

Bauer, who is running for the Republican nomination for governor, made his remarks during a town hall meeting in Fountain Inn that included state lawmakers and about 115 residents.

“My grandmother was not a highly educated woman, but she told me as a small child to quit feeding stray animals. You know why? Because they breed. You’re facilitating the problem if you give an animal or a person ample food supply. They will reproduce, especially ones that don’t think too much further than that. And so what you’ve got to do is you’ve got to curtail that type of behavior. They don’t know any better,” Bauer said.

In South Carolina, 58 percent of students participate in the free and reduced-price lunch program.

Bauer’s remarks came during a speech in which he said government should take away assistance if those receiving help didn’t pass drug tests or attend parent-teacher conferences or PTA meetings if their children were receiving free and reduced-price lunches.

Please be sure to click on the article and read Lt. Governor Bauer’s continuing remarks. After all, ignorance like the above should be exposed on a national level. It’s good to put a name and a face on the continuing bigotry towards “everyone that’s not like us” in this society.

I would call Mr. Bauer a name, but frankly, I don’t have one vile enough.

What is the average monthly amount of public assistance any family could expect to receive in South Carolina, Lieutenant Governor? I just came back from a short Google search. It seems that support is limited at best, and definitely not a princely sum. (I’ll print the exact amount directly after calling the Department of Social Services in South Carolina on Monday, and asking a few questions.) I seem to remember that there were limits on the length of time any family could receive public assistance as of the Clinton administration, but maybe they made a special exception for your state. After all, it’s nothing short of miraculous that ANY child there could obtain the education needed to make a living at all, seeing as how the educational standard in your state is “minimally sufficient”.

Lieutenant Governor, I’d like you to explain to me how anyone could afford to abuse illicit substances while on public assistance. Right after that, I’d like you to explain to me how a child that didn’t ask to be born (and you’re in the party of fetus fetishists, Bud,) should be denied the free or reduced lunch they qualify for because your grandmother thought they were a “stray animal”, undeserving of the slightest amount of caring or mercy. Did your grandmother attend church every Sunday? Did she learn anything there? Did you?

It’s comical to me that you make money off the taxpayers. If you are so against anyone accepting public dollars, perhaps you should make your living in private industry. Get off the government teat, Lieutenant Governor. Go to a job eight, ten, twelve hours a day. Pay for your own housing, your own food, your own health insurance, then tell the rest of the unemployed and working poor of South Carolina you’re going to cut off their assistance or their kids’ lunches because they missed a PTA meeting due to not being able to leave their shift at the dry cleaners or a fast food place, or because their car broke down and they can’t afford to fix it. Frankly, I don’t think you have the gonads to work in private industry. You might meet people that actually prove to you that you’re wrong, and we can’t have that.

In the meantime, I can only hope that you never, ever reproduce. It’s too bad your own family kept you fed.

-S

And Kiki extends his arms to the world

Photo: Matthew McDermott

Kiki was buried alive for a week in the rubble of Haiti. He’s back in the arms of his loved ones today.

In the midst of so much tragedy, he’s just one more reminder that miracles can happen.

-S

It’s Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday in America

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Photo: www.morehousemen.com

“I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.”

-Martin Luther King Jr.

-S