Christina’s Common Sense

Pat Robertson founded a fine university, but he’s still a major loose cannon and I’m hardly a fan of his. Now, I’m less of a fan.

Recently, Robertson joined the Christians embarrassing themselves by jumping aboard the environmental bandwagon with the likes of Al Sharpton. The two have even made a commercial for wecansolveit.org where they get all buddy-buddy on a beach talking about how important it is to protect the planet.

Now, before anyone accuses me of littering along the highway and driving a Hummer just to waste gas, let me defend myself. I do believe it protecting the environment. As a Christian, God has commanded me to be a steward of the environment. Plus, it’s not exactly in my best interest to live on a polluted planet. However, Christians need to realize that protecting the planet does not mean using the government to compel others to do it—and it certainly doesn’t mean allying ourselves with thugs like Al Sharpton to get it done.

And, though I’m not a basketball fan, let me take this opportunity to congratulate the Boston Celtics on winning their 17th NBA title on Tuesday, and their first in my lifetime.

You will likely have to read this post, and the Boston Herald article, at least twice before you believe what you see. I know I did.

Even if you’re not a big baseball fan, you’d have to live under a rock to not have some knowledge of the near-century-long rivalry between the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox. Normally it’s all in good fun—until about the 7th Inning Stretch, at which time a fair amount of liquid courage has been ingested by fans on both sides.

That’s pretty much what happened a couple of years ago, when a Yankees fan and a Red Sox fan met in a sports bar in California. When Mr. New York cheered for the Yankees over the Cleveland, Mr. Boston, who was cheering for the Sox over Tampa Bay, uttered some unkind words in his rival’s direction.

As noted in an earlier paragraph, the Yankees/Sox fun and games vanishes darn quickly after a couple of beers. As such, the altercation became physical and resulted in Mr. Yankees punching Mr. Red Sox in the mouth. Such is not terribly unusual between Yankees fans and Sox fans. But it is unusual to sue the assaulted for damage done to your hand by his tooth.

This lawsuit has just been settled, costing the Red Sox fan $25000. The Yankees fan won because, as a musician, he depends on his hands to make a living and having his opponent’s tooth lodged in his knuckle was a major inconvenience. Therefore, some idiot judge decided to slap the Red Sox fan with $25000.

This was a silly case, and the judge who agreed to hear it should be disbarred and not allowed to practice law ever again. So should whichever lawyer agreed to take this case. If this Yankees-fan-turned-musician wants to protect his hands, maybe he should consider not decking people over baseball games. But he won’t, because the legal system has taught him that he can run to a lawyer and sue the person he assaulted over the damages.

I could also use this to make disparaging comments about Yankees fans. But I won’t.

The Boston Red Sox had their home opener last Tuesday, and I just had to be in Michigan. However, since they were playing the Tigers the game was carried out here, and I got to see the last part after spending 2 ½ hours in Constitutional Law Hell. Unfortunately I missed the beginning and therefore the flyover. It would seem that I missed a very eventful flyover.

It’s been said, “There are old pilots, and there are bold pilots, but there are no old, bold pilots.” Into which category does this poor chap fall? You be the judge.

China has been causing much angst and consternation of late, with the whole Tibet fiasco and all. On top of all that, the summer Olympics will be held in Beijing this summer. Now, Hillary is calling for Pres. Bush to boycott the Beijing Olympics opening ceremonies unless China shapes up and starts paying attention to human rights.

I can hardly think of a more limp-wristed, sissy-Mary way to show disapproval for China’s behavior. Not attend the opening ceremonies? What the heck is that going to accomplish? Nothing, that’s what it will accomplish. Not showing up to the opening ceremonies will have no impact on the Chinese. They lose nothing if our president does not attend the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. We, however, lose a lot. If Pres. Bush stays home from the Olympics, it will only make America look like she doesn’t have the guts to really reprimand China.

If America wants to show its displeasure with China, she should do so in a manner that actually gets attention. Not by keeping her president at home for the opening ceremonies. If we think that’s going to change any behavior, we’re kidding ourselves. Besides, the Olympics is a time for the world to send its best of the best to compete on the biggest stage in the world, not a time to play politics. Is that too much to ask?