It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World

And it's getting crazier.

I should preface by saying I have a bad cold. So, maybe my perception is skewed. Maybe this is how the world looked to Coleridge as he peered through his haze of opiates. Or maybe I'm seeing more clearly than ever.

I turned on the TV tonight and was flipping through the channels - just looking for something interesting. I came upon Sportsnet and was baffled to see them televising a radio broadcast.

Now.

I'm not a television executive. I didn't go to school at some kind of technical institute to learn about the workings of television - on or off camera. I just watch a reasonable amount of TV and I think I know a thing or two about its workings.

It seems to me that television was invented because people wanted to see what was happening. Not just hear. And so they combined sight and sound and - voila! Television. But this was a radio broadcast ON the television. I was baffled to see the camera cut back and forth between three guys - with headphones, large boomed mics and sunglasses - discussing the latest Leafs drama. They never once acknowledged the camera and they were incredibly boring. And so I ask you, why televise a radio show? And my second question is what's next? Should I make audio recordings of me typing emails to people and play them on the radio? Should I be performing live stage plays of me writing newspaper articles? I'm all for multi-media, but only when it makes things more interesting.

I continued flipping and - as always - went past scenes of disaster, starvation and petty squabbling within our own government. And it sickens me. Why do we chose foolish people to govern us? I know why, but I just wish we could change it. Because it's just like high school. The popular/rich kids end up as president of the school, the prom king/queen and valedictorian. You shouldn't have to be popular to govern 30 million people. You should be smart, compassionate and tough. You will have to make hard decisions. You will have to endure harsh criticisms. You will have to help people than no one else will help. And that's where I get angry. Because I re-read Len's diatribe about the staggering amount of death and starvation in the world - particularly Africa. And I pieced it together with something else I read recently. Remember the terrible time our government had balancing its budget? All the humming and hawing about how hard it was? And how they couldn't possibly find more money to meet the promised amount to aid 3rd world countries?

I remember it. I remember it very well.

And after all that, our government (the people looking after our welfare) - after conducting a thorough inquiry (which probably cost half a million dollars) - decided to spend 3/4 of a million dollars - that's $750,000 - to educate the men and women incarcerated in our prisons on - wait for it - tatoo hygeine.

Imagine. Our government - the voice that is supposed to speak on our behalf - has essentially said that the vanity of those we have deemed unfit for society is more important than the hundreds or thousands of lives being lost everyday halfway across the world. Just when I think the world is getting better, I read something like this...and all my fears come rushing back.

Happy Thanksgiving.