Thursday Potpourri

After the recent attack on a US Airways jet by a flock of Canadian Geese, perhaps we should expand our virtual fence with Mexico to ensure that in the future, this doesn't happen again. This morning I heard a great report on the reissue of Miles Davis "Kind of Blue" album. You can hear the report here and also some of the music. But what struck me was Davis quote at the end of the report. He said, ten years after the original release that he was done with that music and if people wanted to hear it, they should buy the album. For Miles, he needed to be about creation. It is too bad more musicians don't adhere to this philosophy instead of choosing the bland sameness to which we are often sentenced today. With the Super Bowl Game coming up, I am going with the Steelers. This is one of the great all time NFL franchises and if Vegas thinks they are gonna win, who am I to question the bookies? That said, if Larry Fitzgerald has a big day, the Cardinals just might pull it out and put Kurt Warner in the Hall of Fame. When oil was at $145.00 a barrel, we paid about $4.50, or 3.10% of the crude amount for a gallon a refined petrol. Now with oil at about $42.00 a barrel, we are paying about $2.00, or 4.75% of the crude amount for a gallon of the stuff. Can someone tell me why we are seeing such disparity? Shouldn't the percentages be about the same, thus making the cost about $1.30 a gallon? In the current political atmosphere, many Republicans are rightly teed off at how President Bush was treated by the left. I can understand that. But I do not understand how many of those same Republicans, often claiming to be Christian, can then say they have a right, and will choose to be just as evil to President Obama. Isn't evil always wrong, and if we are claiming Christ, aren't we called to live a different life? Regardless of your political persuasion, you should be happy about how excited people in other parts of the world about Barack Obama. I was just in Oaxaca, Mexico and rode in the back of a taxi/truck from a small village and all a group of pretty griseled old Zapotecs wanted to talk about was Obama. In him, they saw hope for themselves, because the US had taken a big step away from our racist past. While on my trip to Oaxaca, I heard how much the people in the villages where I am working struggle with the difference between needs and wants. It is not uncommon to raise your family on less than $3000.00 a year. It seems this struggle is really part of the human condition. Finally, tomorrow I am taping an interview for the SOS Radio Network about my work in Oaxaca. If you are the praying type, pray that I can be clear, concise, and not too nervous. My interview is at 2:00pm PST with Kurt Goff and generally is broadcast within a couple of days on his afternoon show across the western US. Have a great weekend!