inquiringminds

I saw on the news this afternoon that former NBA player and announcer Charles Barkley was arrested. He was arrested for suspicion of driving under the influence. He was arrested in Scottsdale, Arizona. Why do celebrities and athletes always get themselves into trouble? I really believe that there are two laws- one for the rich and one for everybody else. Getting a DUI or going to rehab is the new norm in this country. Some celebrities re launch their careers after a stint in rehab. Can you imagine one of us regular people telling our employer that we were going to rehab or had gone to rehab? They would say thanks but no thanks and show you the door. However, in Hollywood anything goes. It is sad but true. Hopefully, Charles Barkley will learn from this incident. Today is New Year’s Eve and so many people get drunk.Everyone needs to act responsibly when they drink alcohol. Alcohol related accidents and fatalities are so avoidable you just have to have a designated driver or take a taxi home. Never drink and drive.

Why am I not surprised? Disgraced Illinois Governor named a successor to President Elect Barack Obama’s senate seat.He chose Roland Burris to fill Obama’s vacated senate seat. Roland Burris is an African American and currently since Obama is no longer in the Senate this means that there are not any African Americans if he does not get the seat. Burris is qualified and the President Elect even said that he is a fine man and public servant. Rod Blagojevich may have made this appointment just to aggravate the President Elect. He should not have made an appointment to the vacant senate seat considering all the trouble that he s currently in. Now, the state of Illinois has to decide what to do about Burris. He is qualified but he was picked by a man who is being investigated for corruption and tried to sell a senate seat. The governor is a very arrogant man and that is not a good thing when you are in trouble it just aggravates people and makes them very angry.

I heard on the news that Governor Sarah Palin and her husband Todd are now grandma and grandpa Palin. Bristol Palin had a baby boy. His name is Tripp Easton Mitchell Johnston. His father is named Levi Johnston. Bristol Palin is eighteen years old. Many of the media had attacked Sarah Palin about this issue about her daughter being unmarried and pregnant. I am not a big Sarah Palin fan but anyone’s daughter can become pregnant before they are married. It does not make you a bad parent. Many teen aged girls are becoming young mothers. It happens. I do not fault Sarah Palin for it. Bristol Palin seems like a very nice girl. She will be a good mother. I think her parents will be a good support system for her. She is an adult and is eighteen years old so hopefully, she will be able to get a job and go to college to support herself and her family. Many teen girls do not got to college because they have babies so it is important to get a good education so that you can have a well paying job. Congrats to Bristol and Levi and their entire family on the birth of baby Tripp.

Even with a ton of discounts this year, many people did not spend as much money as they did last year during the Christmas season. One reason  is the economy and the fact that people just do not have a lot of money to spend on big ticket items. I got two gift cards this year. I had them for Walmart so I bought food with it and only spent about thirty two dollars extra. Many people had gift cards when I went to the store. It is one reason why people will even shop is because of gift cards and discounts. I only go to Walmart about three or four times a year. Usually just to get presents for family members or holidays. My local Walmart is about a half our away, that is if there is no traffic which there usually is. I prefer online shopping, especially if the shipping fees are reasonable. Overstock.com has become one of my favorites. They have refurbished stuff also which can be a good cost savings for me since I am on a very tight budget. We are all cracking down on our spending. It is a double edged sword.

I read about the Santa shooting. I have to say that times have changed that is for sure. Christmas is supposed to be a happy time for people. The man was suffering but that is no excuse to go on a murderous rampage. Times are hard on everyone. The man had gone through a tough divorce and had lost his job. So far I think nine people have been found dead because of this man. It must be terrible to learn on Christmas that your loved one has been murdered. The world has changed, there are so many murders every year in the United States of America. Why is our country so violent? We do not really know. Our society has lost something over the last forty or fifty years. We turn against each other in times of trouble. Other countries do not have such high murder rates. Hopefully, the family members of those people who were murdered will be able to deal with their losses. It was such a tragic event. Hopefully, the murder rate will decrease in the near future. We should solve our problems with words not bullets.

A woman in Miami Florida named Meagan McCormic faked a missing baby story. She said that her five month old son was missing. She said that her son’s name was Riley Buchness and that she had left him with a nanny. She did this to get her ex boyfriend back. This is really despicable. She does not even have a child and never did. I think she got the idea from Casey Anthony who did not report her daughter Caylee missing and then lied and said that she had left her daughter with a nanny.The woman has been filed with filing a missing police report. I really cannot believe that things like this happen. How can you do something like this especially during the holiday season. I feel bad for the ex boyfriend who thought that he had a son and then thought that his son was missing. She belongs in jail for what she did. This is a slap in the face to all those parents who actually do have children that are missing and need help to find their children.

There was a sludge spill in Tennessee recently. This happened because a power plant dike burst and flooded a neighborhood in Harrimann, Tennessee. The levees in New Orleans broke and flooded the entire city. There was a huge bridge collapse last year. We need to invest in our nation’s infrastructure. It is very important to do. We have not invested in our infrastructure in literally decades. It should not be left up to the states, the federal government needs to put money towards public works projects. Our economy is really bad right now and it would increase construction jobs in this country. President Elect Obama promised to invest in our infrastructure but the republicans may try to prevent it from happening. I do not know why people are so down about infrastructure investing. We need to keep up our country’s infrastructure because the nations bridges, pipes, and roads are in disrepair.

This Christmas is going to be a hard one. The weather is very bad right now. There is snow and ice and it is very hard for Americans to commute and get where they need to be for the Christmas holiday. The Midwest has especially been hit hard by the weather issues. Some parts of the Cascades will get over a foot of snow. We all say that we want white Christmases but we do not remember that snow equals travel issues and delays. Chicago O’ Hare airport had issues last night and had many delays and cancellations. It can be hard to fly during bad weather so I always opt to stay home or drive to my Christmas destination. Gas prices are low which is a good sign. A barrel of oil is bout thirty five dollars, which is very surprising considering that usually gas stations up the prices around the holidays.However, many people are not driving, they learned their lesson. Merry Christmas to everyone out there in the blogging world!

George and Cindy Anthony who are Caylee Marie Anthony’s grandparents said that they will be holding a public memorial service for the two year old little girl. Caylee Anthony’s skeletal remains were found on December 11th and were positively identified last Friday.Her mother, twenty two year old Casey Anthony is in jail and was charged with her murder. The jail has already said that Casey will not be allowed to attend Caylee’s funeral. The grandparents are waiting to plan the memorial service because a second autopsy is being done by the defense for Casey Anthony. It is very sad that little Caylee was murdered, most likely by her very own mother. I hope that the little girl did not suffer.Many people searched for little Caylee and her story made national headlines. The memorial service is expected to be attended by hundreds if not thousands of people. Caylee did not know all of these people but they felt like they knew her through photographs and videos of her that were released to the public. I am glad that this little girl will be buried soon. There still has not been a date set for the memorial service but I would guess that it would happen after the new year.

I read today that twenty three percent of people feel that Dick Cheney is the worst vice president ever. I was astounded, only twenty three percent of people said that I was thinking ball park at least ninety percent. Thirty four percent of people said he was a good vice president. I really am suspicious of this poll. I mean everyone calls Dick Cheney Darth Vader. He did do a lot of shady things and he did admit on television that he would have gone to war even if the intelligence had been different. Many people do think that he abused his power as vice president.This is why Vice President Elect Biden will not be allowed to be in Senate deliberations when he becomes vice president in January. The senators in the democratic party wanted there to be less power in the Senate for the vice president. History will end up deciding how good of a vice president Dick Cheney was.