Heroes---Sung and Unsung

Because I was up so very early today, more morning news has gone through my head than would normally. After a certain point, like the second time through the same stories, I will flip to the reruns of "JAG" before coming here to the machine to listen to the radio until 3:00 p.m. Same stories, often different takes.

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This a.m.'s news stories were different today, though. Some elicited disappointment and some elicited relief. The extreme disappointment of seeing footage of America's hero from the Olympics smoking pot through a bong, published in national press and now TV.....The anchors were obviously upset about this, more so for this guy's mom, who gave up everything to help her son reach this amazing goal. She must be livid and more greatly disappointed than I could ever be. It will be interesting to hear the defense of these actions, the pot smoking and hardy partying, even saying he earned the privilege of acting this way. His future is on the line now as he was getting paid in the millions of dollars to endorse certain products like breakfast cereals and sport products. Maybe the bong manufacturers will step up and offer him endorsement opportunities! Not a hero any longer....

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There was later a clip of police officers making a gambling bust somewhere in the US, pocketing money confiscated from the bust. Ugh! What is the point of enforcing the no gambling laws while at the same time stealing the results of the broken law? Please tell me this is rare, please???? Not heroes any longer....

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My favorite story, however, was about the genuine article, a man who was "simply doing his job" and avoided an huge disaster in the course of his work. The pilot of the USAir flight that landed the aircraft on the water of the Hudson without loss of life, he is a hero! He is now free to make public appearances but is reluctant to do so, and in fact, insisted his entire crew appear with him at the Super Bowl. I wonder if they flew to Tampa or decided to drive??? Anyway, the story today was about how he made a phone call to the library from where he had checked out a book to report the book went down with the ship and would be late in getting it back. The library excused his late fee, and is replacing the book with a new one, dedicated to Sully. The subject matter of the book? Professional ethics. By any stretch, a genuine hero, through and through. I will just die if I see pictures of him at some point down the road smoking dope, because he earned the privilege to do so.........

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Its my blog, I can add a post script if I want to! We would not need to have the government growth package if more and more of the Cabinet appointees would simply pay the taxes they have not paid until being nominated! So far nearly $200,000 in taxes have been caught up with no threat of jail or other charges (because the head of the IRS won't investigate or charge himself!) facing them. This is change we can believe in!