Gee Office Krupke... Krup you!
Happy Friday morning everyone. It is always nice to get the mail and see I have health insurance. Does anybody have any fun plans for the weekend? I am pretty wide open if anyone is bored. For the first time in the whole job search I am starting to get mildly frustrated with the whole process. That is why I am going to take today, and maybe tomorrow, off from the job hunt. I have applied to maybe 30 or 40 jobs and I haven't heard anything yet. Not a phone screening, not a phone interview, nothing. The key is to keep my cool, not get burned out, and keep on moving. I understand that every day I can pick up the paper and read about another big company laying people off. Just last night I went online and I saw that Microsoft is laying off 5000 jobs across the country. If companies like Microsoft are struggling, America is in trouble.
1. It is rare that I give a movie an F. In general, I am a pretty lenient grader when it comes to films. Yesterday, I rented the movie An American Carol and it was the 2nd worst movie I have ever seen. The Aristocrats is the only movie that was so terrible I walked out of. I had heard a bit about An American Carol when it came out in July but I didn't know much besides its basic plot. The film is a spoof of the Charles Dickens book, A Christmas Carol. Basically, a liberal filmmaker, Michael Malone (spoof on Michael Moore) is haunted by three ghosts after Malone wants to cancel the 4th of July. The rest of the film is full of racism, misogyny, and other offensive behavior. Don't get me wrong, that's not what bothers me. I have enjoyed MANY offensive movies because they are so funny. (Borat, Harold and Kumar, Stripes, etc.) What bothered me is that the movie just wasn't funny. I don't even care that they made fun of liberals... a lot. The cast is full of famous Hollywood conservatives like Kelsey Grammer, Dennis Hopper, Jon Voight, Bill O'Reilly, James Woods, and others.
2. I did earlier this week rent a solid movie called The Express that just came out. It is the Ernie Davis story. He was the first African American Heisman Trophy winner. I give it a B. It is a good rental with a predictable, but enjoyable ending.
3. I am not sure what I think about Obama closing Guantanamo Bay Prison. I understand that it has become a public relations nightmare but there are more questions than answers. Namely, what are we going to do with many of these prisoners who are psychotic killers? We can't put them in American prisons. First off, who would want these killers in their backyard? Second, they would have the opportunity to brainwash American prisoners. I guess the best option is to convince some of our American allies to imprison them. They'll do it for a "small" fee.
4. ESPN is running kind of an interesting promotion. They are going state by state and asking voters, through their website, to make their state's Mt. Rushmore of sports. Basically, who are the four most, influential, successful, sports figures of their respective state. I have been thinking all morning about who would be in Minnesota. Kirby Puckett, George Mikan, Bronko Nagurski, and Herb Brooks? It's tough. Nationally I would put Wayne Gretzky, Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, and Muhammed Ali. Thoughts on your state or national?
5. Currently listening to "Shut up" by the Black Eyed Peas from the album: Elephunk.
posted by cyclonejohn @ 10:59 AM
11 Comments:
I fully expect you to submit at least double the amount you did in college before getting a job. Yes, that means 138 applications.
Also, get on LinkedIn. Recruiters really do look at it.
It just might take 138 applications. I hope not though!
Minnesota Mt. Rushmore of Sports: Christian Laetner, Denny Green, Gary Anderson, and Chuck Knoblauck
How do you know they're psychotic killers? They've never even been charged with crimes, much less tried.
I like your Mt. Rushmore picks, but I might be inclined to replace Wayne Gretzky with Jackie Robinson. In my mind, Jackie Robinson may be the single most important athlete of the 20th century. Not only did he fundamentally change the face of American sports, but he effectively jump-started the beginnings of the modern Civil Rights movement. On top of that, he was an absolutely phenomenal ball player. Gretzky was undoubtedly the greatest hockey player who ever lived, but the influence of he greatness was confined, more or less, within his own sport. Robinson's permeated the fabric of the nation.
As for a Wisconsin Mt. Rushmore, here are my picks:
1. Henry Aaron
2. Brett Favre
3. Robin Yount
4. Dan Jansen/Eric Heiden (tie)
Illinois:
1.Ditka
2.Jordan
3. Ditka
4. Ditka
and clearly you haven't seen freddy got fingered.
Mike, it is hard to argue with your Mt. Rushmore picks. I have to admit; Wisconsin's look much more impressive than Minnesota's.
Emilia, foolishly I am giving the American military the benefit of the doubt on this one. What I would like is for their to be a public trial, like the United Nations forced upon the captured Nazis. Then the whole world could see the attrocities and murders that those detained in Guantanamo did. Until then, America suffers a superfluous public relations black-eye.
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I wouldn't call it foolish; I'd call it naive, even bigoted, and certainly irresponsible. These people haven't been charged with crimes, their families have mostly not been notified of their whereabouts, very few have come to trial and the legitimacy of the evidence used to try them is under great scrutiny because it may have been obtained by torture which, aside from being a serious violation of international law, is an even more serious violation of basic human decency and understood civilized behavior. If there was strong evidence that these people have committed heinous crimes, why were they not charged and brought to trial in the same manner that other criminals are? If there was not strong enough evidence of these accusations to prosecute, why were they not released immediately?
To give the United States military the benefit of the doubt is to say that it acts in a morally superior manner to that of other individuals and organizations and that, since you believe that to be the case, it is not required that they abide by internationally agreed-upon standards of the treatment of fellow human beings or to provide justification for its actions. This is the same sort of thinking that was used to legitimize the Spanish Inquisition, the Salem witch trials or punishment by order of a monarch - the inherent moral superiority of the prosecuting institution removed from them the burden of proof. For an individual to come under suspicion by that institution was considered proof enough of guilt.
One simply can't say that one seeks truth or loves justice when one is unwilling to ask the hard questions (i.e. how do we know they're psychotic killers?) of one's own government, the military one pays for, and, ultimately, oneself as an American citizen.
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