Is Thanksgiving Real

It's Thanksgiving week, which means I'm going to the well again for a list of things for which I am not thankful.  It's going to be a politically heavy list this year, because it's an easy fit....

The most corrupt, amoral, unethical person to be elected U.S. president, Trump.

All of the complicit, lying, sycophants of that person.

The right-wing Republican propaganda machine.

The stupidity of Americans, and by default, the American electorate.  I wrote about this 15 years ago!

Our lack of critical thinkers.  I wrote about this 13 years ago!

I'm sure I've said this in the past, maybe multiple times, but....reality television.

Tech bros.

Crypto bros.

Real estate commissions.

People who don't take care of their yards.

Door dings.

Spam texts and emails.

FIFA Fo Fum Fake Fans Feign Fun

Once every four years, the FIFA World Cup is held.  This is a soccer (or as it's called in every other country, football) tournament that pits teams representing countries from every continent except Antarctica.  Let's just say, it's a very big deal outside of North America, and becoming a bigger deal there, too.

This is one of those contested years.  Normally it's held in June/July, but this year it's being held in November/December, to account for the fact it's being held in Qatar, one of the hottest places on earth in June/July.

[At this point, I could go on about how FIFA is an incredibly corrupt organization, and how it accepted bribes from Qatar (as it does from every host country) to agree to hold the World Cup there.  It's another sportswashing attempt by a place that openly discriminates against gays and females.  But I'm not actually going to go on about that.]

It's strange to see what happens to Americans during the World Cup.  While the vast majority will go four years without watching so much as a minute of soccer, many of those same folks suddenly take off work to watch the U.S. team play their World Cup games.

It doesn't matter that they don't know the name of a single player, much less the rules of the game.  What matters is making sure they are part of the crowd that suddenly cares about the national soccer team.  

Yes, there are avid year-round fans out there too -- tens of thousands of them -- thanks to the growth of U.S. soccer at the high school, college, and professional levels.  The most avid even traveled internationally to watch the games.

But that number still pales in comparison to the quadrennial jump-on-the-bandwagon group.  And to those people I say, like I did ten years ago in this very blog:  You are a Pretender.  You're the person who doesn't watch a baseball game all year (and I don't blame you, it's even more boring than soccer) but then becomes a huge World Series fan.

For the World Cup, that might make you feel patriotic, but that doesn't make you a fan.

The Real Killers

The United States of America just suffered another mass shooting of elementary school children, this time in Texas.   I wrote about the last one(!) in 2012, and I basically predicted this one a week later.

If it isn’t already obvious, nothing has changed in the last 10 years.  I take that back, something has changed – it’s even easier now to buy guns, especially assault-style weapons. 

The gutless politicians governing our gun-crazy culture love their power too much to do anything about mass shootings.  These Republicans – and let's call a spade a spade, that’s who they are – accept millions of dollars from the gun lobby to retain their legislative ‘jobs’ in return for making it easy in this country to buy plentiful guns and ammunition.

These pathetic grifters love money and power more than the safety of the citizenry.  As cover, they try to blame mass shootings on everything else but guns.  Then after some time goes by, they try to water down our gun laws even more, as directed by their gun-lobby (Read: NRA) overlords.

It's hard to think how much less safer our gun laws can be when an 18 year-old in Texas can buy assault weapons without a comprehensive background check or waiting period.  How hard is it to correlate that with the fact the United States is the only nation in the world where mass shootings regularly happen?

In a way, the gun lobby has had it right all along.  Guns don't kill people, people kill people -- especially if they're a politician with an R behind their name.

Faux-Patriots

July 4th week brings out all sorts of people trying to display their patriotism.  This used to be a very simple thing, like American flag waving, wearing red, white, and blue apparel, or attending parades highlighting veterans with marching bands playing old patriotic melodies.

More recently, in the past five years particularly, many Americans have drastically changed their personal definitions of what it means to be a patriot, in ways that are actually the opposite of the word's meaning.

These so-called 'patriots' are basically cut from the same cloth.  They are all on the extreme edges of their political parties.  They all parrot the same rhetoric from the fringe media sources they follow.  They think government is bad -- you know, the same government they desperately looked to when they needed to fend off a pandemic that economically disenfranchised millions, and killed hundreds of thousands of people in the country along the way.

That isn't patriotism.  They don't love their country.  They dislike their country to the point they will resort to -- and even promote -- violence to get their way.  How can you be less patriotic than that?

That isn't to say there's an equal number of faux-patriots on both sides.  No, they are sharply tilted to the Republican side, where conservative extremism has become the norm thanks to a mentally ill ex-president who they somehow excused to make incessant lying and grifting something worthy of their praise (not to mention their vote).

Their stained idea of patriotism has now reached the point that they rationalize armed insurrection is OK, as long as it's meant to stop a democratically-elected government they don't like.  Basically, they are fans of the Civil War, which is further manifested in their promotion of white, Christian, straight, males -- preferably all carrying guns for which they have no permit.

It's gotten to the point of cringing when I hear people use the word 'patriot'.  I don't want their idea of American patriotism conflated with mine: Belief and action towards a free society, with democratic majority rule, capitalism with a social safety net, equality and human rights for all races, genders, religions, and sexual orientations.

That's what the majority of Americans believe in.  That's patriotism.

Let It Hit The Fan

Money.  In America, it's the number one reason why most people will do most things.  If you want to understand why adults are motivated to do things, follow the money.

Attention.  In America, it's the runner-up reason why most people will do most things.  If you want to understand why adults are motivated to do things besides for money, it's for attention, which is often monetized.  (See reason one.)

Is there a way to combine these two powerful motivators to accomplish something larger?  Absolutely.  And one of the main vehicles for this has to be the major organized sports leagues.

We've seen professional sports leagues and players, most notably from the NBA / WNBA, use their platforms to drive political and social change.  Just last year, players in those leagues so far as to boycott games in response to social unrest over the treatment of blacks in America.  It had limited economic impact due to the pandemic, but it got people's attention.

There are much better, broader examples from the past.  In the 1990s, states that didn't recognize MLK Day were eliminated as hosts for crown jewel sporting events.  (The NFL pulled the Super Bowl from Arizona.)  Something similar happened later in North Carolina and Indiana when those states passed anti-LGBTQ laws, and the leagues (along with the NCAA) avoided or pulled out from those states as hosts for events like the NBA All-Star game or the NCAA basketball tournament.

These actions also had a domino effect of making corporations not host conventions in those states.  Suddenly, when states realized the loss of revenue, not to mention the embarrassing attention, they got rid of those laws.

Examples like these highlight why organized sports leagues could be doing more now, as republican-led states pass anti-voting laws, and/or anti-LGBTQ laws.  If the NFL, NBA, NCAA, or Major League Baseball had their act together, they'd simply tell these states that they won't do business there, at least not outside of regular franchise operations.  An even more effective approach would be the players associations of the pro leagues boycotting games, ending the public's great desire to watch them.  Then things would hit the fan (pun intended!) although it would be a monetary sacrifice some players would not want to make.

This year, the Major League Baseball All-Star game is supposed to be in Atlanta, Georgia, the state most actively passing voter suppression laws.  They should move that game, and let the money and attention flow to states with smarter elected officials.  Then let's see what happens -- if the past is prologue, things will change fast.

Irony Is Wasted On The Stupid

Since the start of the year, states have been grappling with the procurement and end-user delivery of COVID-19 vaccines.  (States are doing this because there was no national plan, thanks to the incredible collection of dumbasses in the prior presidential administration.)  It's very similar to how the entire pandemic has been handled, which I've compared to the Wild West.  There are no laws, only unenforced guidelines that many people simply choose not to follow.

Most states / governors have tried to establish sensible vaccine distribution guidelines that seek to inoculate frontline healthcare workers and older-aged Americans.  However, some states have now decided to open vaccine eligibility to those under age 65 if they have an underlying health condition that heightens the risk of severe illness from COVID-19.  This seems benign enough until you look at what is considered (by our Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) to be a qualifying health condition.....

The most objectionable condition has to be those who currently or previously smoked cigarettes.  Those who choose to pollute their lungs, not not mention the air that we all breathe, get bumped up in this line.  What a travesty, spending a life-saving vaccine on people who are willingly shortening their lives every day of the week -- plus increasing everyone's health care costs while they're at it.  Bravo, CDC.

Another questionable condition has to be obesity.  Yes, I realize there are illness-based and genetically-based reasons why some people may become clinically obese. Even conceding that, this means many others who became obese simply by eating too much of the wrong things and not exercising, will be able to get a vaccination before others who made healthier choices.

Leave it to the government to nudge people away from living a healthy lifestyle by rewarding those who don't.  They should call it the 'anti-survival of the fittest' policy.

The bigger irony is, this pandemic would have hospitalized and killed many fewer Americans to begin with if its citizens had healthier diets / lifestyles. Now to add insult to injury, anyone who has spent a lifetime staying fit by eating right, not smoking, and being active, is going to pay a price for that by being made to wait to be vaccinated against a deadly virus.  Who knew that being healthy could be such a vice?

In the words of the great playwright Oscar Wilde, “Irony is wasted on the stupid.”

No More F**** To Give About T****

Over the years, I've made fun of people who consistently make, and make public, their New Year's resolutions.  I've probably even made fun of them in some previous blog post.  I'm all for improvement via positive self-talk, but the vast majority of these resolutions are forgotten within a couple of months, even though the initial self-affirmations remain on social media accounts forever.

That said, this year I'm going to join the crowd, and publicize my own resolution.  It's very simple: I'm not going to remain silent or try to change / avoid the subject the next time I hear anyone, speaking to me in person or in a group, tries to defend the worst, narcissistic, racist, xenophobic, homophobic, misogynistic, grifting, criminal, fascist president in U.S. history, Donald T****.

In retrospect, it's a shame I put so much effort into not confronting people on that topic before now.  It seemed like such a waste of time and energy, trying to use truth and facts to explain something to the unwilling and unknowing.  Changing the subject was a more rational approach than trying to change a mind warped by far right-wing media platforms, which supported / support  T**** and the republican party (small caps on purpose) at all costs.

It was also a function of my professional life, to try to maintain neutrality.  I have clients from all walks of life, although they are overwhelmingly white Iowans.  It sort of reminds me of the famous Michael Jordan quote from a simpler time, when he was asked why he didn't use his platform for social change.  "Republicans buy shoes, too," was his reply.

During the Black Lives Matter protests of last summer, it started to dawn on me that silence wasn't the correct option.  That's the 'white privilege' way of doing things.  Silence can be taken as complicity.

So coming into this year, I decided I wasn't going down that path anymore.  After last week's crazed insurrection movement that killed people at the U.S. Capitol on 1/6/2021, I have extra motivation to not be silent when others are saying and doing ignorant, deranged things.  Put less politely, I don't have anymore fucks to give about those people.

I'm not going out on a limb by putting this in writing on my little unknown blog.  But if anyone reads it and disagrees, or anyone is offended by my verbal pushback someday, I'm ready to move on without them as clients or friends.

I decided long ago I'd reached the point where I really only want to be around people who improve me personally and professionally.  T****-lickers don't do that, and after last week, it's embarrassing to even be around them.

All Fo(u)r Twenty

Today is 4/20, making it a perfect time to again comment on the movement to decriminalize and expand the availability of cannabis in America.  You know, marijuana, the drug that is safer than alcohol but treated like cocaine.

We're up to ten states now that have legalized marijuana in some non-medical way.  Ten now, but what will it take to get to twenty and beyond?

Unfortunately, while the polls continue to show an increasing majority of Americans support marijuana legalization, the federal government and most states still don't allow it.  They don't even allow medical marijuana usage, which has an even larger majority of American support.

So, what gives?  Let's just use my home (red) state of Iowa as an example.  It has a Republican governor and legislature, so even though legalization is popular overall, it isn't so popular inside their conservative constituencies.  The Rs basically have a bend-but-don't-break attitude, where they act like they're doing something without actually doing anything.

For example, Iowa does some medical cannabis usage through a few approved dispensaries, but prescriptions can only be filled with minimal amounts of THC.  It's so little, in fact, Iowa isn't even considered a medical marijuana state.  This in spite of calls by doctors and pharmacists to increase the maximum THC dosage.

This is the worst, dumbest way to do things, because lots of effort produces zero positive results.  People / patients aren't getting better, and the state gets no tax revenue.  The fact that a neighboring state (Illinois) this year legalized cannabis just makes it even worse / dumber, since motivated Iowans simply drive across the border.  The result is, the people get what they want, but another state benefits from the commerce.

In the end, Iowa and other non-cannabis states would be better off financially just not allowing any marijuana usage, rather than limiting it the way they are.  Of course, if they legalized it, those states would see a multi-million dollar tax revenue bonanza -- but since the Rs don't want to look so bad politically, they do things one drip at a time, showcasing the insanity of their ways

One small irony in all of this is that Iowa does consider its dispensaries to be essential businesses, so they remain open during the COVID-19 pandemic.  Wouldn't it be nice if there was an effective, natural drug that could help everyone through the pandemic, not only physically but mentally?  And regulated selling of that same drug could create millions in tax revenue being lost by the state due to the same pandemic?

Maybe by next 4/20.

2019

Should auld acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind?  No, it's time to again review the things I wanted to have happen this year, and consider some things I would like to see happen in 2019.  As usual, we start with the prior year's list, with comments in ALL CAPS:

-The failure of Bitcoin, not as an idea, but as an investment.
BITCOIN'S SHARE PRICE WENT FROM OVER $15,000 TO UNDER $4,000.  THESE DAYS, IT'S AN AFTERTHOUGHT.

-An NCAA scandal so large they will have to start allowing players a cut of revenues.
THERE WAS/IS A RATHER LARGE SCANDAL RELATED TO SHOE COMPANY REPS GETTING MONEY TO DIRECT AMATEUR BASKETBALL PLAYERS TO CERTAIN SCHOOLS.  BUT SO FAR IT'S ONLY LED TO A FEW COACHES BEING FIRED.

-More destinations and ways to fly on Southwest Airlines.
WELL, THEY ADDED A DIRECT DES MOINES - PHOENIX FLIGHT.

-A widespread ability to charge devices without a cord (also asked for this for 2016).
NOPE.

-A new governor / lieutenant governor elected for Iowa.
IT LOOKED LIKE THIS WAS GOING TO HAPPEN, BUT IT TURNED OUT TO BE A SURPRISING DISAPPOINTMENT.

-Let's try this -- exponential growth in the cannabis industry to the extent all states will want a piece of it through taxation.
ALMOST READY TO SAY THIS HAPPENED.  [I JUST COVERED THIS IN MY LAST POST.]

-Greater national and international awareness of CRISPR (genome editing) technology.
THERE HAVE BEEN MORE NATIONAL STORIES ABOUT THIS.

-Smaller entree portions served in restaurants, for a reduced price.
THE PORTIONS MAY HAVE GOTTEN LARGER.

-Fewer national weather disasters, but more understanding of climate change.
ANOTHER ITEM THAT MOVED FARTHER AWAY FROM HAPPENING, NOT CLOSER.

-The resignation or impeachment of a mentally unstable and unqualified president -- again, no names.
CARRYING THIS ONE OVER TO NEXT YEAR.

Now, for 2019 I'd like to see these things happen:

The resignation or impeachment of a mentally unstable and unqualified president -- again, no names.

The electric vehicle becoming America's fastest growing (by percentage) seller.

Alabama and Clemson and New England to have poor football seasons.

Some major medical breakthrough, perhaps a vaccine to eliminate a dread disease.

Consistent, moderate summer rain in central Iowa.

A priest actually arrested and charged and jailed for past sexual abuse.

More cities allowing app-based scooter rentals.

Another scandal that ruins another Fox TV personality.

U.S. restaurants that allow payment by app, OR that bring the credit card reader to your table.

Me traveling to one of the five continental states in which I've never set foot.

High Time

It's been almost a year since I've blogged about legalization of marijuana, and I'm glad to report that more (slow) progress is being made.  Let’s recap.

Internationally, Canada legalized marijuana this year, leaving the U.S. in their socially progressive dust.

Nationally, after some additional November ballot approvals, eleven U.S. states have now legalized recreational marijuana use.  It isn’t just ‘liberal’ western states either; states like Michigan and Vermont have joined the enlightened minority that allow cannabis with the pleasant side effect of…..tax revenue.  (You thought I was going to say the pleasant side effect of sensitivity and relaxation?)

Meanwhile, at least 20 other states now broadly offer legal medical marijuana.  This should be the bare minimum allowance of any state.   So the good news is, over half of America gets it.

Unfortunately, the rest of America is still in a race to see which state can be the slowest and dumbest when it comes to legalizing pot.  A few of these states, including Iowa, now allow an extremely limited and convoluted way for medically-eligible people to obtain small doses of cannabis product.  It’s so limited, in fact, that it can’t even be considered a legalization of medical marijuana.

The hypocrisy on these non-legalization states gets worse by the day.  We still have a virtually unregulated opioid epidemic in the country, but people can still get prescriptions in those states for opioids with no problem.  And do I even need to make the point about legal alcohol consumption?  For example in Iowa, the regulators have gone out of their way to encourage home-based production and sale of beer and liquor – as if that’s not a mind-altering substance.

Today there is little doubt that most Americans at least want 1) medical marijuana to be legal, and 2) marijuana possession to be decriminalized.  In states that allow the public to vote on ballot initiatives, it’s now also become clear that most people believe in limited recreational sales and usage.

It’s only a matter of time before America legalizes marijuana, like its Canadian counterpart.  The only question is which state(s) will be the last, foolish ones not to do something before then.

Beyond The Evolutionary Lottery

There are all kinds of built-in advantages to being a natural 1) Caucasian-born 2) American 3) male.  Any one of these three gives a person a head start in life; being all three is like winning the evolutionary lottery, especially economically and socially.  I realize this, although most do not.

However, there is one thing I believe no one is naturally born with that, if attained through effort and some luck, creates a big advantage in life.  Intelligence.  (I say luck is involved because although it isn't natural, intelligence is still more likely to be attained by those advantaged, white American males who are far more likely to be educated through college.)

Smarter people are capable of doing more things in life, and doing them effectively and efficiently, and therefore they gain advantages over others.  There are tons of examples, some obvious (understanding technology) and some not so obvious (critical thinking).

Knowledge is power, whether it's at the office, at the bar, or at the neighborhood block party.  Just being able to carry on a conversation with the person standing next to you, whomever that is, can be a big plus in a variety of situations.

There is one major downside for some of the smarties out there:  Their frequent inability to grasp that they aren't always the smartest person in the room.  This brings them well-earned disregard from those they would seek to impress.  Let's just say the positive correlation between knowledge and power is sometimes offset by the negative correlation between intelligence and self-awareness.

Regardless, knowing things other people don't know is a huge advantage in a world that relies less and less on physical talent.  The best part of this is, almost anyone can do it.  (I say almost because again, it helps a lot to be born in America, home of taxpayer-funded public education and the public library.)

If only it mattered more in politics, where intelligence apparently provides no advantage whatsoever.

A Failed History Lesson

“Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.”  So goes the famous quote attributed to Sir Winston Churchill.

This quote came to life for me again in the past week, after watching parts of two different, public television documentaries on the Vietnam War.   The main one was a new, 10-part series called The Vietnam War from Ken Burns.  The other was from a couple of years ago called Dick Cavett’s Vietnam.

I was only in the single-digits old during the Vietnam War, so I didn’t understand then what was happening, either in Southeast Asia or in America.  I only have a few real recollections of it.  One was a day around 1970, when my family was watching a television scroll of calendar days next to numbers.  (I didn’t realized this until many years later, but they were looking at the draft lottery, and probably wondering if a randomly drawn number would send a loved one to the war.)  Another memory was the day the war informally ended, in April 1975, watching TV reports of the last people being lifted by helicopter from the U.S. embassy roof in Saigon.

So, watching parts of these documentaries was new information for me.  It’s hard to understand even now how much of a dumb, tactical, human failure it was for the U.S.  Tremendous, unnecessary sacrifice and loss of life, just to keep a small, remote territory from becoming Communist.  But that’s the way it was then, Communism was our enemy, and we were blind to our limits to contain it.

What really struck me, however, is how similar things were to the (current) U.S. 'wars' in Iraq and Afghanistan.  They also started out as something that would be quickly managed, and with a fair amount of support after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.  But again, we were blind to our limits to defeat an idea (terrorism), and the length of the wars and their eventual human cost, which turned American attitudes against it.

Not only are there general similarities, but as the Cavett documentary showed, there are fascinating similarities with the personalities involved then and now.   I thought of a number of them within a few minutes as I was watching:

Lyndon Johnson = George W. Bush

Robert McNamara = Donald Rumsfeld

Dick Cavett = Jon Stewart or Stephen Colbert

Warren Beatty and Jane Fonda = George Clooney (and Jane Fonda?)

Muhammad Ali = ?  Unfortunately, no contemporary famous athlete compares to him, and no contemporary athlete suffered like him.

It’s was 40 years between the Vietnam War and the Iraq / Afghanistan conflicts.  Did we learn anything from history?  Now it’s been 50 years since the Vietnam War.  Have we learned anything yet?

Modern Convention

I’ve been trying to avoid writing about the current state of America's national political affairs.  I feel like I’ve done that; even though this is a general election year and there’s a lot of crazy going on, particularly in the Republican Party, I only made one entry six months ago, around Iowa caucus time.

However, now that both national party conventions just ended, I have to at least write something about them.

So much of what you see and hear in the primary and convention season is coming from the party goofballs.  By that I mean, local political activists on the fringes who attend obscure rallies, and who will always follow the party line, no matter how extreme it is.

While these particular Democrats and Republicans usually have opinions that are very black-and-white (along with skin color), electing a president isn't a strict matter of pro-gun versus pro-gun control, or pro-business versus pro-middle class, or pro-religion versus pro-scientific fact-secular.  It's important to keep that in perspective.

It's been a fact for a long time that to win a general election, a candidate must appeal to the more centrist general electorate.  This is where the more centrist party figures are, and they don't attend the national conventions.

The centrist electorate is also where the political independents have the power.  That's folks like me.  But independents aren't invited on the crazy-town major party national convention train, either.

And so, the conventions come and go with no one really caring about those who don't think as they do, and no one asking for the help they ultimately need.  It's an unfortunate and frankly dumb way to go about nominating a person for president.

It's too bad there isn't a bona fide independent party.  And no, Libertarian Party, you're still too 'out-there' to qualify as a party of independents, although by being fiscally conservative and socially liberal, you're closer than the others.

White Privilege

The events of the past two weeks -- where grand juries refused to indict on-duty white police officers in Ferguson, MO and Staten Island, NY who controversially killed black men, and the sometimes riotous protests that followed -- have re-confirmed some things that too many Americans still don't understand after all these years:

1) White privilege exists.  No matter how you slice it, if you factor out race, there would have at least been indictments in these cases.  The NY case is absolutely crazy, considering the irrefutable video evidence of what happened, and secrecy of the grand jury.  Ask yourself who's more likely to be stopped for speeding -- is it a dumb white guy in a minority neighborhood, or an intelligent minority in a white neighborhood?

2) Wealth privilege exists.  This is more recognized by society, but regardless, you can replace the word 'race' in the paragraph above with 'socioeconomic background' and it still works.  If the victims were white but poor, nothing changes.

3) Property destruction / rioting in the wake of the non-indictments is terribly foolish, adds to people's lack of understanding of white privilege.  People see this disproportionate and wrongful reaction, and get angry about that instead of the underlying problem -- that minorities poor don't believe they are treated fairly by law enforcement, nor by the judicial system.

4) Criminal actions have consequences.  The punishment (death) doesn't comes close to matching the crime, but both of the victims were or had been doing something illegal.  They drew attention to themselves, then resisted arrest.  They didn't get what they deserved, which at least in the NY case also appeared to be criminal, but they got what they got.

5) There's still a lot of latent racism in America.  If you haven't noticed this during the Obama presidency, then you probably won't notice it now, but let's be real -- how many white people do you know who are openly critical of the rioting in the MO case, but don't know any of the facts surrounding the case?  And aren't those same people also being a little quiet about the NY case?

I rest my case.

Why Some People Hate America (Secular Version)

Last weekend, I was in a large grocery store picking up a couple of items.  This store had its own public cafeteria area, and a worker was just removing leftover food from a breakfast buffet it had set out.

I stood and watched as she took a tray filled with more than a dozen doughnuts from the buffet, brought them behind the counter, and scraped them into the garbage.  I didn't hang around, but there's little doubt this same garbage can would become the final resting place for all of the other leftover buffet food.

Multiply the leftovers from this small buffet by the thousands of others across America, over thousands of days, and I'm guessing you'd have enough to feed a small impoverished country for an entire meal.  Add in every other food item that restaurants toss daily, and maybe it's enough to feed that country for an entire day.

This is what we routinely throw into the garbage in America.  Yet, even some of America's own citizens go hungry.

I get it, it isn't the store's fault.  We have rules about food disposal and safety in our country.  The problem is, those rules aren't entirely written for the protection of the consumer; they're also written for the protection of the merchant, to avoid a lawsuit.  In other words, we throw away food to protect us from ourselves.

I also get that it's a distribution problem.  There's so reasonable way to transport perishable food thousands of miles.  But is it so hard to think it couldn't be put to some better use locally?

For full disclosure, I have to consider my own contribution to American food wastefulness last weekend.  I stopped at a convenience store on a road trip, where you could get 'any size' fountain drink up to 52-ounces for a dollar.  So of course, I got the 52-ouncer.  Why get only 20-ounces when you could get more than twice that for the same price and just throw away what you don't want?  And sadly, that's what I did.

I've been thinking more about American excess in general lately, ever since a trip to Las Vegas.  There, it isn't just food and beverages -- it's excess in every way, from the gambling all the way up to the imported Italian marble floor tiles.

We know that some people hate America based upon their own warped religious beliefs.  They are crazy idiots.  If there's anything to hate on us for, it would be our lack of humility in how much we waste.

World Cup Fever > Headache

Over the past two weeks, the quadrennial FIFA World Cup (that's soccer to Americans, and futbol to everyone else) has been playing out.  It's the ultimate tournament for the most popular sport in the world, but usually an American afterthought for only the 6th or 7th most popular sport in the U.S.

For reasons not fully related to the growth of soccer's popularity here, it seems Americans who couldn't care less about soccer have joined those who could care less, and the nation suddenly has World Cup fever.  How and why has this happened?

1)  Lots more kids plays soccer these days, just as they did four years ago, and the four years before that, and the four years before that, etc.  So there is more generational interest.

2)  The U.S. has so many more immigrants now, from so many countries.  These folks have brought there passion for futbol with them; it rubs off on Americans who now works and socialize with them.

3)  The U.S. men's national soccer team has been more successful over the years, and won its first World Cup game.  Nothing brings out the bandwagon-ing, no-nothing fans more than a winning team.

As a short-term memory, immediate-gratification nation, this fever shall soon pass.  That's good, because seeing people suddenly interested in something they know nothing about gives me a headache.

It was fun while it lasted, but I doubt many people will be taking their new-found passion for soccer beyond this month.  After all, American football is right around the corner.