Weekend Thoughts

No Fly
One story on 60 Minutes had to do with mix-ups and inconveniences with the fed's "No Fly" list. Unsurprisingly, it missed the point. For the government to prevent someone from flying, or detaining and interrogating someone who wants to fly, violates the Fifth Amendment protection against taking away liberty without due process of law.

Firing
Another story had to do with the firing of a female CEO at Hewlett-Packard last year. She thinks the firing could have been handled better. Which is the same thing that every single person who has ever been fired has said. Especially the 23,000 employees that she herself had laid off.

Yankees Are the New Braves
Sure, in the late 1990's, the Yankees were a dynasty. But now it's been six years since their last World Series title, despite their annual purchase of another all-star to fix what went wrong in the previous year's play-offs. They're to the 00's what the Braves were to the 90's, except the Yankees are spending a lot more money for their play-off frustrations.

Knowledge Gets You Only So Far.
Case in point from Sandi Thom's song I Wish I Was a Punk Rocker. Ms. Thom was born in 1981. The chorus goes:

Oh I wish I was a punk rocker with flowers in my hair
In '77 and '69 revolution was in the air
I was born too late into a world that doesn't care
Oh I wish I was a punk rocker with flowers in my hair

Knowledge is recognizing that punk rockers didn't have flowers in their hair, that was hippies. But knowledge doesn't tell you if this the line is therefore stupid, or brilliant.

Want to Get Away From this Commercial
A few years ago there was a brilliant Southwest Airlines commercial in which a middle-aged, black football referee forgets the coin for the coin flip. They brought it back except with a younger, white referee and a change in the last line from asking everyone in an "official" voice, "Does anyone have change for a dollar" to asking one of the players worriedly, "Do you have change for a dollar?"

Why didn't they just bring the old commercial back? It was much better.

Running Away With It

At 5-0, the Chicago Bears look like the class of the NFC. But the season is one long, hard slog. If the Bears go 10-0, there's a chance they could wrap up home-field advantage for the play-offs with 3-4 games left in the season. I'd like their chances in the play-offs more if that doesn't happen, if another team breathes down their neck heading into week 17. That means the Bears will have to play hard and stay sharp. Nothing kills a team like having to play games with no urgency before heading into the play-offs. Ask Indianapolis.

Writing Off Saturday Night

I could see ESPN or FoxSportsNet broadcasting #22 Nebraska against Iowa State in prime-time on Saturday night, but ABC? I suppose a football broadcast is cheaper to produce than a real show, but it's apparent the network has no interest in winning the Saturday night ratings.

Why is He Even Working?

Charlie Sheen did a credible job when he played it straight in the Hot Shots spoofs. But the commercials for Spin City and now Two and a Half Men tell me that Sheen has no particular comic timing or talent. I always thought his brother Emilio Estevez was a better actor, but I haven't seen him in anything in years.