SNL Humor

Megan and I flipped on SNL the other night and we were actually rewarded with a laugh. Nothing grotesque, crude, childish or half humorous. No we were genuinely laughing together as we watch the season finale hosted by Justin Timberlake. The laughs came right from the start with his monologue. From there the show went like all other SNL shows of the past 10 years, downhill. But enjoy this light hearted ditty from late night NBC (it doesnt hurt that the SNL band is beyond phenominal)

Oooooohhh Yeahhhh!!!

Oh yeah! We lost the icon wrestler-turned-Slim-Jim-apokesman this past week. It was a sad day for all those fans of bulky, shirtless men engaging in a semi-fake sport. It was the steroids that helped make him the celebrity he was and, most likely, it was the steroids that gave him the heart attack that led to his death. Here's to you Macho Man. Oh No!

Elementary School or Communist Regime?

There was a plethora of paper. There was a complete absence of paper. This is the tale of an educational institution which has seemed, to this blogger, blurred the lines of elementary school and communist regime. I'll tell you the story and you can make the decision.

In an elementary school far away (northwest chicago suburbs) the teachers could not seem to keep their printing levels to a reasonable minimum. It became so bad that by mid-April the school had run out of paper. No more paper, no more money in the budget to buy extra. Oh what to do, what to do? I'll tell you what the principal did. He bought a box of paper put it out and the teachers hoarded them in their classroom. So he bought another couple of boxes and kept them in his office and if teachers needed paper they would have to petition to him with how many sheets, what they would use them for and why they needed to print/copy something. And those who are in good graces with the dictat...er, principal would even be allowed a couple extra sheets every now and again.

So you make the decision. Is rationing out paper to teachers and giving them only what they need to properly educate - and in most cases, less than what they need - is more similar to a communist regime than a school? In either case, from a teachers persepctive, SCHOOL'S ALMOST OUT!!!!

Have a Great Summer!

Mother's Day for an MVP

While sitting at my childhood home in St. Charles reading one of the four Tribune's my mom gets each Sunday I found a delightful article by Chicago Bulls beat writer K.C. Johnson about where Derrick Rose gets his humble attitude and hard working ethic. Check it out here:


It's always Mother's Day for Rose

Death ≠ Justice

I just don't get it; the mass rejoicing in the death of a man who planned the death of thousands of people in the 9/11 attacks. Is it not just as sick to rejoice in the death of a human being (regardless of what they did in life) as using religion to for the purposes of spreading "hate and division among people" (as the vatican would put it). I'm glad he will not be planning any other attacks in the name of religion but as a christian I cannot rejoice in his death. Like the death penalty, a human's death does not equal justice.


Here is the Vatican's response to the death of Osama bin Laden:
Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden will have to answer to God for having killed many people and exploiting religion to spread hate, the Vatican said on Monday.

Spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said that while Christians "do not rejoice" over a death, it serves to remind them of "each person's responsibility before God and men."

"Osama bin Laden, as everyone knows, had the grave responsibility of having spread division and hate among people, causing the deaths of an innumerable number of people and exploiting religion for these purposes," he said.

The Vatican has often condemned the concept of violence in God's name.

Lombardi also said the Vatican hoped that the death of bin Laden "would not be an occasion for more hate, but for peace."

Meeting a 'Blessed'

The day has come. It's been roughly 3 years, 5 months and 3 days since I began reading "Witness to Hope: The Biography of Pope John Paul II" (by George Weigel) and meeting the man of the 20th century, the Pope like no other pontiff before him, one of the most influential men of international religious, political and cultural realms. But now the day has come when I've finished the 864 page one-way conversation with the man who has now, deservedly so by this bloggers standards, received the 'Blessed' title, on his way to full sainthood. My goal was to finish the book long ago and I continued to adjust my completion date but I finally made it my resolve a month ago to finish the book by JPII's beatification - and today I'm proud to say I finished. However, now that I'm finished with the book I feel as though my conversation about the life and actions of Pope John Paul II is finished, which brings both inspiration and sadness. Inspiration because of the life he led and the radical christian discipleship he portrayed yet sadness because my conversation has ended. Still I know I can open another book inspired by him or written by him and explore the mind and spirit of Blessed John Paul II. I underlined my lines and quotes in the book and I would like to share with you a paragraph from the last page of the book:
"Karol Wojtyla came to resemble G.K. Chesterton's description of Thomas More: 'he was above all things, historic: he respresented at once a type, a turning-point and an ultimate destiny. If there had not been that particular moment, the whole of history would have been different."
Amen to that. If God had not perfectly planned to have his young Polish servant stand up to lead His church the whole of history and the whole of the future would have been different. Thank god for the humble blessed servant we were given, and for me finally finishing his longest biography (at least the first part - now onto part II).