Samson's Jawbone

I have boys, so we never followed who Ms America or Ms USA was or what they did. We were not interested. But I have heard that Miss California was runner-up for Miss USA this year. She apparently came in second for having an opinion that was unpopular with some judges. In other words, to be a beautiful and successful role model in our culture one now has to "toe the party-line." As I understand what happened, part of the contest includes an interview, and she was asked her opinion of "gay marriage." She said she thought marriage was between "a man and a woman" [Isn't this the way it has been since the dawn of civilization?] Two judges disagreed and disqualified her. One even excoriated her on his blog. One judge later said that she was "shocked that Miss California had that opinion." I found her shock, shocking. The people of the state the woman represented, the state of California, have overwhelmingly voted against gay marriage. As a mat...

Many of us who live in Greater Binghamton New York, myself included, are still shocked by the mass shooting at the American Civic Association downtown. People outside of this city do not know its history: a century ago the slogan of many immigrants coming into Ellis Island was, "which way E.J." It was the only English phrase many immigrants had learned on their pilgrimage to the American dream. They were asking where they could go to find Endicott-Johnson Corporation, a shoe factory in our town. Binghamton has a legacy of welcoming and assimilating immigrants. Although they might not have specifically heard of Binghamton,and the town may not have have been their destination, the town is a symbol of the hope of America's huddled masses. What went so terribly wrong, then, last Friday, that one of those immigrants lashed out at his fellow immigrants and his new country, then took his life, and why have shootings become all to common across America? Some will no doubt ...

When my children were small and they used to get caught up in raucous behavior. I would sometimes wrestles them and say don't you know it is against our family rules to have fun? Well I have been reflecting recently on how our culture is losing its sense-of-humor. It is against the rules to have fun anymore. In a time of economic stress it might help if we would lighten up. Remember early in the Presidential election cycle some one asked Mrs Clinton if she knew who Ghandi was. "He owns a convenience store in Indiana," she said. She had to apologize. Now I am no fan of Mrs. Clinton, but why should she have apologized. Yes it was ethnic humor. Yes it was stereotypical, but really who did it hurt. To recognize distinctive and common cultural practices is not racist. As a matter-of-fact, I think laughing at our differences makes them more tolerable. Remember when President George Bush had to apologize for calling then Senator Obama "articulate." Now what is that ab...

As an employee of the company that gave them I of course have several thoughts on AIG's bonus payments. I understand people's angst, but think the angst is really channeled in the wrong direction. Every company has exempt and non-exempt part time, full time employees and contract employees. The government gave us the money to keep doing business, paying our contractual obligations is part of that business. I think we had the legal right the pay them. As a matter of fact a provision in the stimulus bill specifically authorized AIG pay these bonuses. Other company's such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have used stimulus money for huge bonuses. No one has said a word about them because they are GSE's and the money is going back into the hands of the politicians. Failure to pay our contractual obligations would have forced the company into bankruptcy, and the purpose of the government money was to prevent that from occurring . Remember AIG was "too big too fail....

Early in Jesus' ministry he set out to test the quality of his disciple's faith. As soon he called them he sent them out on ministry assignments (6:12). They had mostly success, but their success was interrupted by the execution of John the Baptist. So on this occasion he calls them for some relax and rejuvenation, which gets interrupted by ministry demands. So Jesus attempts to take them by boat to a solitary place the crowd follows them. As the day progress the disciples get concerned that they have no food for the crowd, and suggest to Jesus that he send the people away. He tells them to feed the people. They tell Jesus it would take 8 months wages to buy food for this crowd. Jesus asks what do you have. To demonstrate their helplessness they bring Jesus all they have -- five loaves and two fishes. Jesus promptly thanks God for his sustenance and gives enough fish and bread back to the disciples to feed the crowd, which they promptly do, leaving twelve basket fulls of left...

President Obama last night said too much money had been transferred into the hands of the wealthy. That's funny I thought they had earned it. Oh, yes, there are some like his darling Ted Kennedy who have inherited it, but most wealthy people in America have earned it. They have created something or innovated something that has created a new product or service. The wealthy give us our jobs and create the conveniences of our way of life. I am not jealous I do not resent anyone's success. The question about wealth in the hands of wealthy is what do they do with it. If they invested legally and ethically, that stimulates the economy and creates jobs. If they use it for eleemosynary reason, people's lives are improved. If they purchase a corporate jet it employs hundreds, maybe thousands of people to make that jet, plus many more who work in the industries that support it. Oh, yes there is the occasional wealthy person who is greedy; unfortunately, many people suffer from that ...

I have some good memories from my job as a customer service representative in an inbound telephone call center. Some of those good memories are of some hilarious conversations I had with customers: After answering a call  with our specified company greeting the customer said, "Did you say your name was Blair?" "No sir, I said it was Glenn." "Oh, okay..., Blair." "No sir, my name is ... Glenn!" "Oh... I was sure you said it was... Blair!... Spell your name for me, please?" "Okay sir. It is Glenn....  G... - L... - E ...- N... - N!" " Oh, I was right. okay, thank you, Blair." For the six years that I worked for that company, many of my colleagues there called me, "Blair." It gave us all a good laugh, and besides I have been called worse: "dude," for example. Call me "Blair" if you would like, just please never call me "dude."  A person'...