And A Happy New Year

Happy New Year everybody! Here’s to 365 brand new days of the same old thing.

It’s snowing here. About 22 inches since last Friday, and it is expected to continue snowing until at least Thursday night. Did I mention that I hate snow? You know, I hear Seattle’s nice this time of year.

To kick off the New Year on the right foot, the city/state of Dubai christened what is officially the world’s tallest skyscraper today. Topping off at a ridiculous 2,717 feet (828 metres, for my Canadian readers) and 1.5 billion dollars, the Burj Khalifa—formerly the Burj Dubai—shatters the previous record by 1,047 feet and, well, a whole lot of money. What makes this story interesting is that Dubai is FLAT BROKE. Only five weeks ago the emirate requested a six month reprieve on a $3.5 billion interest payment when it became evident that it was in danger of defaulting on somewhere between $59 and $80 billion in loans. But, I guess $1.5 billion is chump change when you’re already in for $80 billion, right?

Over the holiday weekend, radio personality Rush Limbaugh was admitted to hospital with severe chest pains he thought might be a heart attack. Subsequent tests revealed no heart attack had been suffered. Probably just gas. Hot air. Lots of it.

I have to preface the next segment with full disclosure. I have attended private schools my whole life. I am not rich and I never have been. Neither has my family. In fact, if you ask my parents they will tell you all about walking uphill both ways to school in the snow all year round and living paycheck to paycheck and all that good stuff working people have to do to sustain themselves and their tenuous position in society. Nevertheless, I attended private schools because my parents decided that would be best for me. And somehow, (you’d have to ask them how because I still have no idea), we always managed to find a way to pay for it while also paying taxes to support the public school system.

Over the weekend, RNC Chairman Michael Steele called President Obama a hypocrite for sending his children to private school while opposing school vouchers that would help allow other “less fortunate” parents to do the same. First, why is it that every time Michael Steele opens his mouth something stupid comes out? Second—and more importantly—there’s nothing hypocritical about opposing private school vouchers while having kids in private school. Contrary to Steele’s opinion, this isn’t like telling your kids not to smoke pot while rolling a joint in front of them. Any and every child—regardless of means—can attend public school for the opportunity to get an education and succeed in life. Because an educated citizenry is in the best interest of society, we as a country have decided it is worth while to spend some portion of our taxes to fund said public education system. Private school, on the other hand, is a luxury. It is the educational equivalent of consuming bottled water instead of tap water, or lying in a tanning bed instead of on the beach under the sun. Parents who can afford something extra, something above and beyond in terms of curriculum or discipline or whatever else they might be looking for, pay out of pocket to send their kids to a private school of their choice. If we start paying parents to leave the public school system with dollars intended to fund the public school system they intend to leave, we will be left with a public school system completely incapable of performing the task for which it was created. I’m sure that sits just fine with a certain segment of this country. I feel sorry for those people.

My NFL Thoughts for Week 17:

Not a great weekend of football. Only two of the 32 teams really had anything to play for and both of them accomplished their goal of sneaking into the playoffs. Too many “good” teams simply didn’t bother to show up—four of them losing in blowout shutouts to teams they were supposedly able to beat. Three of this coming Sunday’s Wild Card games will be rematches of last Sunday’s blowouts, and only four of the 12 playoff teams head into the post-season looking like they are actually capable of winning a football game. The only real highlight of the weekend was Titans’ running back Chris Johnson becoming only the sixth player in NFL history to rush for 2,000 yards, (finishing the season with 2,005) and the only player to do so on a team without a winning record. Hopefully next week will prove to be a little more interesting.

My Super Bowl Picks for Week 17: Minnesota Vikings vs. San Diego Chargers.

Last week during a news roundtable discussing Tiger Woods, Fox News senior anchor Brit Hume stated that in order to turn his life around, Woods should abandon his Buddhist faith (because it has nothing to offer him) and accept Jesus Christ in order that he might once again do great things. Hume then appeared on The O’Reilly Factor Monday night surprised at the negative feedback he received from journalists and bloggers and others on the Internet regarding his proselytizing. But instead of giving thoughtful consideration to the criticism, he reverted to the Chewbacca Defense: in this case, if people take exception to comments regarding religion, they’ve obviously persecuting you because they hate Jesus. Sigh. I continue to find it difficult to buy the argument that a nation identifying itself overwhelmingly as Christian “persecutes” people who talk about Christ, but for the sake of this discussion that point is moot. It doesn’t seem like an architect should have to explain journalistic ethics to a journalist, but here goes. Brit Hume is a news anchor. In fact, he’s the senior news anchor of a news program on a news network. While he is on the air (at the very least) he is supposed to be an impartial reporter of THE NEWS, not an outspoken advocate of his particular worldview. If Brit Hume wants to be a commentator, like is colleagues Sean Hannity, Bill O’Reilly or Glen Beck, then he should ask for his own primetime news commentary program during which he would be free from journalistic restraint and welcome to evangelize Tiger Woods or whomsoever else he pleases. Evangelism has no place in the news unless it is the subject of said news. Care to imagine for a moment the mountains of copy and breathless lead-ins Fox News would blast through if a national network news anchor suggested someone look to Allah for salvation?

Finally, on a topic that may interest only me, the roster of the Canadian Olympic Hockey Team was announced last week. I realize that means absolutely nothing to most people in this country, but it’s a pretty big deal to me, and 33 million other Canadians. (That’s all of us by the way, all 33 million of us.) After being utterly humiliated by a seventh place finish in Torino four years ago, this is our chance for redemption. Understand something about Olympic hockey in Canada. This isn’t like the Major League Baseball All-Star Game or the NFL Pro Bowl here in America. People actually care about this. Being selected to the Olympic team is like being asked to sit at the right hand of God. You never turn it down, you are always grateful for the opportunity, and you are expected to win—every single time. The reputation of the greatest player ever to play the game was irreparably tarnished in 2006 when he assembled an Olympic squad that lost games to the likes of Italy, a country with barely enough ice to make a slushie. This year, with the games on home ice, anything less than a gold medal will be considered failure—worse if it comes at the hands of the United States. It’s bad enough to lose an international hockey game, never mind losing that game to a country where non-sense like cup-stacking and competitive eating are regularly shown on television while hockey is not.