random thoughts for today

to start, it finally rained. hardly saw a drop all summer and now it's rained buckets for the past three days. over the next week it's predicted we're going to get about four inches of rain. i like the rain. the garden is growing like crazy. unfortunately, it's a little late for the farmers. it might save the soybeans, but it's too late for the corn. after a year of record yields in illinois, this happens.

random thoughts...

-where do the families of these innocent people killed on 9/11 get off saying the new york city fire departments didn't do enough? the audio tapes were released and really give a chilling account of what happened that day. a few families are coming out criticizing the department now for hogging frequencies and not getting information out to people on time. let's see...343 firefighters died running into two buildings burning at 1000 degrees from jet fuel, carried injured people down stairs, gave last rites, and tried to save all the people they humanly could. they died when two buildings collapsed that were attacked by terrorists. But yet, these families are bitching, bitching, bitching because the fire department didn't save their loved ones...after all, who cares about all the other people who died that day? you notice, though, some of these families have book and movie deals, so they're profiting from the awful deaths of their loved ones, and several of the widows moved on pretty quickly from their husbands' deaths. so you know they have a lot of credibility. plus, they filed the lawsuit along with the new york times, and we all know what a pillar of journalistic integrity they are. my impression from hearing the tapes is that the firefighters were frightened, knew the danger, and did their jobs anyway, knowing they had to. they were on the scene within seconds. they called out every available department and got as much help there as they could. The new york city fire department did all they could and lost a lot of brave men and women that day. It's too bad these families didn't get the memo that it's not all about them and their loved ones. In case they forgot, 2,821 other people were killed that day too. i also think it's another reason we in the media shouldn't talk to grieving families.

-will somebody tell this so-called religious group from kansas that's protesting at military funerals to shut the hell up and go away? for those of you who haven't heard, this group of mental ingrates shows up at military funerals and says that God killed American soldiers with Muslim IEDs to retaliate for Americans tolerating homosexuality. I won't even repeat the horrible things I think about these people. First of all, this isn't a free speech/expression deal. this is a hate group, pure and simple. Second, no, God didn't kill American soldiers to get back at Americans tolerating gays and lesbians. I don't see how there's a connection between those two things. Why on earth would they put families through that? Okay, fine. You don't support the war. You don't support the troops. You don't like gays and lesbians. As Americans, you have those rights. But the fact that under the first amendment these groups can go protest at military funerals, saying the men and women killed by terrorists overseas are going to hell to pay for all americans supporting homosexuality, is wrong on every possible level. I wish nothing but bad things on these so-called protestors. Let's see what happens when they show up to picket and the cops are waiting with loaded weapons and fire hoses.

-Why do we get less than an inch of rain over a two month period, then 2 inches of rain in 3 days with 4 more predicted to come? This is crazy. I like the rain. But it doesn't rain for more than a month, and now it's pouring buckets. At least it's cool, though.

-Why isn't there a bigger deal being made out of the fact that the Clinton Administration knew about the 9/11 hijackers a year before the attacks and ordered nothing to be said because it was "too politically sensitive?" So, let's see, you knew there were 19 people in this country, using their own names, taking flying classes, getting illegal drivers' licenses and meeting with other known terrorists, and 9/11 is the Bush administration's fault?! People should be outraged that Able Danger identified these people a year before the attacks and there might have been a cover up because of political sensitivity. I'm outraged by it.

-Cardinals beat the Cubs today. Chris Carpenter pitched his sixth complete game of the year. Cardinals are doing awesome. It's going to be them and the White Sox in the world series. How awesome would that be?

-Giants pitcher, Washington County native, Nashville high school grad, and all-around good guy Kirk Rueter is back on the disabled list. The Belleville paper had an article last week that he wants to be traded when his contract is up. Wonder if he's thinking St. Louis. That would be awesome. Local boy who made good playing for the major league team everyone but the sporting goods store owner supports. If it happens, I'll be all the more a Cardinals fan.

Well, I got everything off my chest. More coming tomorrow or in a couple of days.