What really matters

Even though the Bears were on television tonight I still couldn’t bring myself to sit down and watch them. I think that I have reached the point in my life where I no longer need to watch preseason football. Gamble on it, possibly, but not watch it. There is just something about spending an evening watching a game that doesn’t matter that seems like a complete waste of time. True, this is from someone who watches pro wrestling on a regular basis but I hope people understand my point.

By the way, you can pick up Michael Vick Eagles jerseys at the Philadelphia airport. You know, just in case you need to pick up a last minute gift for the illegal dog ring operator in your family. Ok, as a free market person I don’t have a problem with selling the jerseys or even with Vick being in the NFL (he served out his sentence and will serve out his suspension) but I don’t think you have to have his jersey be the most prominent one on display. It just seems a little disconcerting.

I want to mention one thing that struck me as I watched the Kennedy funeral yesterday. I wasn’t able to watch all of it but I saw a good portion and it was something that I found touching and moving. Being an Irish Catholic kid I grew up with the myth of the Kennedys and having stood in front of the grave at Arlington myself I really find it to be a very thought provoking space. Yes, this is definitely a mythologizing of very flawed individuals but I view them to be what one can accomplish when you focus on the better angels of our nature. It is a world view in which we strive to be better than what we are.

That is why it really bothered me when the funeral was being politicized. I would watch the talking heads discuss whether or not Obama should have tied his speech more to health care reform. It wasn’t a political stump speech; it was a eulogy. Politics in that sense should not have been raised at all. The health care bill should not be stamped with his name on it just because Teddy would have wanted it that way. He would want a good bill that he could discuss with Hatch and McCain and have them all agree that it is the best for the country even if they did not vote the same way. Sometimes I wish we could bury a man in peace and not have every aspect be analyzed for deeper political meaning. Personal and spiritual meaning yes, political no.

The five random CDs for the week:
1) Jeff Buckley “Sketches for My Sweetheart the Drunk”
2) Neko Case “Canadian Amp”
3) Freakwater “Feels Like the Third Time”
4) Loreena McKennitt “Live from Paris and Toronto”
5) Gillian Welch “Soul Journey”