George Foster

Random Thoughts George Foster I don‘t know the answer.
Let me say up front that the tragic case of Terry Schiavo, the mentally incapacitated woman lying in a Florida care center, is a tough one for me. I‘ve changed my opinion several times.
I like to think my own ambivalence reflects our nation‘s highly charged, emotional response to the Schiavo case. The right to avoid artificial life support if our wishes are made known is a given. On the other hand, all life is sacred and conventional medical knowledge has provided erroneous diagnoses concerning life expectancy on countless occasions.
Even though similar life and death decisions are made everyday, it is the video footage of Terry Schiavo circulating on the national media that sets this case apart. These pictures of Ms. Schiavo, in a seemingly vegetative state, are disturbing on several different levels. The images drive home the reality of Terry‘s helpless innocence, the sadness of a formerly close family torn apart over differences about her care, and most of all - what would we do in similar circumstances?

Random Thoughts George Foster It is 1:30 a.m. and a Pistons game on the West Coast is winding down on TV. Before going back to sleep I flipped the channel to CNN and was alarmed to see an airplane on the tarmac as a black vehicle pulled up nearby. Has there been another airliner hijacking? Have terrorists demanded a plane to be provided to whisk them away to Tehran?
No, I finally realized that Martha Stewart‘s release from jail was being carried live, complete with reporters hollering the usual inane questions from behind the security fence, “Martha, are you glad to be out?“
As Stewart walked the short distance to the airplane that would take her home for the first time in five months, the commentators observed how healthy she looked, the radiance of her smile, and the appropriateness of her attire.
Good grief, the media coverage is this intense a few minutes after being sprung from the joint? With her acute business sense, Martha Stewart will undoubtedly embrace her freedom with financial windfall that will be staggering - well beyond her previous highpoint.

Random Thoughts George Foster I hate sports movies.
And I never grow tired of startling friends by telling them so. Many of them know that I actually live for sports - either following or participating in baseball, basketball, hockey, football, skiing, boxing, distance running, etc. Yet, films, depicting sports, turn my stomach.
For example, Bull Durham was ranked the No. 1 sports movie of all time by ESPN- I found it silly and Kevin Costner totally unconvincing. Some have rated Raging Bull as the greatest movie of all time in any genre. To me, it seemed overly demeaning to women and DeNiro‘s performance was nothing but a bunch of mumbling gangster talk.
In Field of Dreams, Costner again bores us with his monotonous Kevin Costner imitation. Caddyshack wasn‘t funny for even a second. If you are one of those knuckleheads who enjoy laughing at the predictably stupid Bill Murray jokes, I suppose that doesn‘t make you a bad person.

Random Thoughts George Foster Thank God for the troops. Expect to hear very soon from our seasoned soldiers, marching shoulder to shoulder. These veterans will fight to the bitter end to keep what they believe is rightfully theirs.
AARP, the largest senior lobby group in the world with 35 million members, is ready to confront politicians with every weapon in their arsenal in order to keep our Social Security system from being cannibalized by Wall Street profiteers. George W. Bush’s plan for a partial privatization of Social Security is the centerpiece in his bid to promote an ownership society in America.
I have to admit to being initially intrigued with the idea of investing some of the social security withholding that I fork over to Uncle Sam with every paycheck. Why not allow participants in the system to invest some of the money? After all, Social Security withholding is our hard-earned cash, right?

Random Thoughts George Foster We have now entered into that surrealistic zone of Super Bowl hype.
The media has two weeks to fill newspaper and broadcast space with coverage of two NFL teams. Every nuance of each player on both teams now becomes a critical human-interest story. Other insignificant issues being covered, such as Americans dying in Iraq
and the sluggish economy, understandably take a backseat to the riveting question that haunts every American: who has the best
football team?
Don’t get me wrong, I am a lifelong sports fan and played quite a bit of football in a previous life. For me, the NFL playoff games leading up to the Super Bowl can be compelling viewing. It is the Super Bowl, itself, that makes my stomach turn.
Quickly, tell me what you remember about last year’s Super Bowl game. For 90% of you, Janet Jackson’s wardrobe malfunction is the only thing that comes to mind. Therein lies the problem. These games are mostly forgettable.
During the regular season, more than half of NFL games are decided by a touchdown or less. Yet, only 8 of 38 Super Bowls in history have been decided by less than seven points. Eleven Super Bowls have been blowouts - determined by more than 20 points. The reason for lopsided games: the players are not ready to perform which is reflected in the quality of play and the final score.

Random Thoughts George Foster Many of you have thrown up your arms in defeat over the state of this planet crumbling in crises. Violence in the Middle East,
a halting economy, and increased divisive-ness between religions and ethnic groups alone is enough to depress Pollyanna at an ice cream social.
In the past, we could hop into our cars and travel most anywhere when we grew tired our wretched lives. Now gasoline pushes $2 per gallon and SUV’s get only 10 miles per gallon. Yikes, is my math correct? That’s only five miles traveled for every dollar spent - forget it.
If all else failed, moving to a desert island in order to cut off all communications with the outside world was an option. Then we discovered tsunamis.
My solution to this dilemma has been to turn off the TV coverage of depressing news and read. And surprisingly, I have found much to be optimistic about on our good planet.
There is now, for the first time in years, reason to be hopeful for peace between the Palestin-ians and Israel. Each of the three main parties to any such Middle East agreement has simultaneously moved to a more favorable political position. Some experts believe it can be done.

Random Thoughts George Foster Am I the only one in the good state of Michigan not crucifying Detroit Lion quarterback Joey Harrington?
Because of a wind-blown game that provided the worst conditions for passing the football in 40 years, most Lions’ fans have given up on him. Did anyone notice that Brett Favre looked bad for most of that game in Green Bay? The Packer quarterback did somehow complete enough passes to barely squeak by the Lions, but he is also the best quarterback in football history.
Sure... Harrington has not performed well in recent weeks, but giving up on him now is comparable to bone-head moves in the past when the Lions traded Earl Morrall, John Henry Johnson, Pat Studstill, and Tom Tracy.

Random Thoughts George Foster Like many others growing up in the 1960s, I looked up to my favorite baseball players as heroes. Major Leaguers of that era weren’t perfect, but at least players weren’t drug abusers and the game wasn’t a pipeline of illicit drug trafficking for its star performers.
When Jason Giambi of the New York Yankees allegedly admitted taking steroids to a grand jury today, he lit the fuse that will rock the game of baseball to its foundations. By the time you read this article, we will know more of the details. Public disgust for baseball might then far exceed what I am expressing here. Sports fans or not, we should all be outraged.
The San Francisco Bay Chronicle reported that Giambi told grand jurors how he injected a growth hormone in his stomach, testosterone into his buttocks, rubbed an undetectable steroid knows as “the cream” on his body and placed drops of another, called “the clear,” under his tongue. And his case is just the tip of the iceberg.

Random Thoughts George Foster We have just survived an ugly presidential campaign, U.S. troops are dying increasingly in Iraq, the economy is sluggish, and it seems to rain almost every day. So why even get out of bed in the morning, you may be asking?
Of course, there is also much we each have to be thankful for during this holiday season. Thanksgiving Day is my favorite holiday - it encourages us to see the good everywhere. The following is a list of things to be grateful for that you may have overlooked.

Random Thoughts George Foster I can’t help but scratch my head when overhearing acquaintances talking of George W. Bush’s victory over John Kerry on November 2.
Republicans are absolutely crowing about how “decisive” Bush’s win was - the first president to be elected with over 50% of the vote since George H.W. Bush in 1988. On the other hand, some of my Kerry-supporting friends are bitterly talking of moving abroad from their feeling that right-wing extremists are taking over this country.
Take a deep, deep breath, people. Our country is still split almost equally between Republican and Democratic voters - as it was four years ago. The only difference this time is that the Supreme Court didn’t have to break the deadlock.
The truth is that President George W. Bush was returned to office by the tiniest margin of popular votes for any president reelected in history - 3% more votes than John Kerry. The other 13 presidential reelection winners averaged about a 15% margin over the second place candidate.

Random Thoughts George Foster I can’t take any more. Enough.
When this grueling, interminable presidential campaign ends next week, I will be down on my knees expressing gratitude that the long slog is over. Regardless of the winner.
As a cable-news junky, I can no longer bring myself to watch the insulting hyperbole that the political hacks would mislead us into believing true. Bush supporters would have you think Kerry is a traitor who shot himself in Vietnam in order to earn medals. Kerry backers want you to look at Bush as a butcher, worse than Hitler.
Then it occurred to me... wait a minute. All Americans are not inundated with the idiotic presidential campaigns to the extent we are in this state. Michigan is considered one of about ten political “swing states.” As a swing state, Republicans and Democrats are each capable of receiving the most presidential votes in Michigan and thus is a major campaign target. Though I live in a swing state, I don’t feel like dancing because George W. Bush and John Kerry are in our faces constantly - lying, threatening and bullying us to vote for them.

Random Thoughts George Foster Your Fall Sports Update. Seriously.
Egad – no hockey?
With the 2004-5 NHL hockey season in doubt, Red Wingsitis withdrawal has already begun. No training sessions in Traverse City. Pre-season games are a goner. It is hard to believe, but the entire regular season and playoffs may be cancelled due to a labor dispute. Seriously.
Many of us are ready to cry. Who among us will not feel a tug of the heart when realizing that there will be no highlight reel goals from Pavel Datsyuk, no deft passes from Stevie Yzerman, and especially no blood and mayhem from Darren McCarty fisticuffs? It is going to be a long winter.

Random Thoughts George Foster My dad would be very disappointed. As someone who has not missed the Miss America contest on TV since Lee Meriwether won in 1954, he has been put on notice about his annual ritual: the 83-year-old beauty pageant may soon be history.
I am told this year’s show pathetically attempted to be a combination of American Idol and Survivor -without success. Despite new celebrity hosts and the most skin ever exposed for the pageant, a record-low 10 million viewers tuned in to the beauty contest last week. As recent as eight years ago the pageant recorded a decent viewing audience of 25 million. In 1960 those who tuned in peaked at 85 million.
For those who say Miss America is a relic of a bygone era or that beauty contests are politically incorrect because of the sexist images they portray, you may be right. Just don’t forget the other side of Miss America.

Random Thoughts George Foster Get ready for the onslaught of dirt. With only two months to go before the election, all reason and civility are out the window.
When listening to the attacks against Bush and Kerry on TV, I am left with the impression that the political parties think voters are dumber than Forrest Gump. The following are just a few of the top whoppers that the candidates are dealing us this election season with their fingers crossed behind their backs.

Random Thoughts George Foster Even as we celebrate the return of the Olympics to Greece, the games have problems. Big problems.
Don’t get me wrong, I love sports and believe there is some value in the Olympic games. However, it is clear that the disadvantages of the games far outweigh the advantages. After Greece, let us mercifully put the games to rest - forever.