More Random Thoughts On the Day's News

Good God, the Clintons must be at rock bottom to accuse Barack Obama of plagiarism for using his signature line "Yes We Can" in his stump speech. This is such a mundane and familiar line in normal, everyday conversation that claiming someone should attribute it to someone else is just nonsensical. What, was Mr. Obama supposed to have referenced "The Little Engine Who Could?"

Meanwhile, here in Southern California, mistreatment of animals, including slaughtering for human consumption so-called "downed cows," has sparked the recall of millions of pounds of beef, most of it apparently already consumed by unsuspecting customers. These injured and/or diseased animals were stabbed by forklift tongs, kicked, had their eyes poked and were even water-boarded in an effort to get them to walk to the slaughterhouse, since FDA regulations prohibit adding meat from these "downed cows" to the human food supply.

There is a special place in hell reserved for the degenerates who perpetrated these atrocities. Cows may be among the dumbest creatures on this green earth, but no animal deserves to be treated like that.

This is just another, mind-numbing example of runaway corporatism fostered by decades of conservative, do-nothing government. In this case, the company was trying to squeeze every last dollar out of these cows; you see, dead meat is worth more if it's turned into hamburger rather than dog food or pig slop, which is what's supposed to happen to downed cows. And they've been able to get away with it because the FDA has been effectively neutered by Bush and Co. May a conservative Republican be the first person in this country to contract Mad Cow disease because downed cows have entered the food supply.

So the Lakers stole Pao Gasol and the Mavericks finally made the Jason Kidd deal work, but the best the Suns could do was acquire a fat, geriatric center, with a huge, guaranteed contract and who is year's past his prime? What, Wes Unseld was unavailable? In one, fell swoop the Shaq deal turns the Suns from the most exciting team in the NBA into another plodding, grind-it-out collection of underachievers.