Your Grrrs...
Rand II writes: Just a warning. It may seem as though it is easy to agree with Hillary Clinton now, but it's all fake. She's a political animal and she knows exactly what to say in order to get into power. She also knows that mainstream American society is becoming more conservative and that she doesn't stand a chance at '08 if she were to continue her real liberal, pro-abortion, pro-gay and socialist agenda. Oh yeah, Hillary's going to sound real conservative in the next couple of months, but, ultimately, she's just after the power.
SOB writes: I liked your take on the earning what you get. Unfortunately, in my opinion it goes beyond what we learn from our parents. It is reinforced by political posturing and big media constantly attributing the job market to the government. If you don't have a job, it must be the president's fault. The government owes us jobs and if I don't like the jobs out there then the government should feed, shelter and pay me until it finds me a suitable job. Most people agree the government is far too big, but it's impossible to cut back until people refuse to allow the government to help. My 2 cents.
Les in Arnold, Md.: One of my biggest Grrrs is what I call EON drivers (End-Of-Nose). I don’t know how many times I’ll be driving down a busy road only to have someone pull out from a road or parking lot on my right and then proceed to drive slowly so that I am forced to slow down or change lanes. But the clincher is when I check my rearview mirror only to find that there is no other traffic in sight behind me. If they would have waited just 2 or 3 seconds they could have pulled safely onto the road without cutting off anyone. They drive at the END OF THEIR NOSES! Wake up people! Try looking beyond that little universe that is you and don’t drive like you’re the only one on the road!
ET in cyberspace writes: Seriously – I read you because your stupidity makes me laugh – thank you!
Fred in cyberspace writes: Your Grrr column "Hillary on Generation Y." I don't totally agree with a statement you made in the article. "I feel for families of those types of people. What kind of example must they be setting for their kids." My wife and I adopted a child and raised her with great work ethics. I don't miss work and I work as many hours as my work wants me to and my wife has same type of work ethics. As we found out as an adoptive parent, you can do everything right and try to instill your beliefs and ethics in a young mind and it just doesn't work. We tried to set a good example for our child and the genes from her biological parents took precedence and our hard work was not fruitful. Some kids' parents (biological) can cause heartache and never even be in the picture. We learned this the hard way.
Pat in Jacksonville, Fla.: I listened to the president’s speech last night and the follow-up commentary by FOX News. I didn’t agree with everything the president "suggests" even as a middle-of-the-road Republican. I had no idea what the Senate immigration bill had in it until I heard the post-speech commentary … sounds like the House is pretty much in tune with the majority of the public while the Senate is afraid to address the legal voting public's concerns. I’m in favor of sealing the border and then we implement some form of the guest worker program. How do you sort out the long-term illegals from the masses that will start pouring over the border starting today to beat the National Guard from setting up shop? It’s a two-step process. If the politicians are really serious about fixing immigration, they blew it in 1986 and it sounds like they will again in 2006 … a 20-year cycle of ineptitude or just a continuous cycle?
Scott B. in Milwaukee, Wis.: I had a degree in broadcast journalism from the University of Wisconsin and it took 10 months to find an on-air job (after a couple of false starts with a couple of shady radio owners) in Sheboygan, Wis., and it paid all of $6 per hour, but it was on the air and I was happy. That job lasted a year, the next only three weeks and it was six months before I was full time at the next job in Milwaukee. In all I was fired six times, moved 11 times and lived in four states in the 10 years I was in the radio business. Those were 10 great years, but after those 10 I was still making pretty much the same money I was 10 years earlier and maybe a bit more, so I decided to move on to voice-over work. I make many times more than I did in radio and own my own home and I am saving for a Jaguar. I’m a Boomer 47 and still love work and get here early, every day. If your intern wants to know what it's like in the entertainment industry, tell her that only the chiefs get paid the big bucks and the Indians get paid next to nothing.
Dan from Iowa: To Mike E. who describes anyone not fully versed in the minutiae of professional baseball history as obliviots: you really need to get a life. I am proud to say that I have never wasted a single dollar watching overpaid athletes who seem to think they actually deserve the ridiculous salaries and fan adulation that always seems to follow them. I consider anyone who views these cry-babies as a good investment of their money to be the true obliviot, not to mention those who then go home and waste even more time memorizing every stat for the last 30 years. Want to find the real obliviot, go look in a mirror.
Crash on Bonds: The reason we're paying attention to Bonds' pursuit of Ruth right now is because Babe Ruth is the most famous baseball player in the history of the game. It makes absolute sense to watch him catch and pass the Babe. I don't like Bonds ... haven't liked him since he left the Pirates in a lurch ... but if you're a fan of the greatest game ever invented next to golf, then you've got to be interested in this part of the chase.
Mark in Okla.: Hey Mike, regarding the everybody wins mentality, I'm grrr'd by the fact that it discourages taking risks in life. Life can be summed up as a series of risks that we take. Where would our world be had not the pioneers of different inventions and theories not risked failure? It is OK to fail, but it is not OK to not risk failure. I have a shocking idea for people on all sides of this issue: failure IS an option. You made a wrong decision, so what, learn from it, backtrack and make a different one! One thing I tell those who are under me in my work is that they have my full and unrestricted permission to fail and to fail miserably, but no permission whatsoever to not take that risk. You wouldn't believe how freeing it is to hear that -- I know, because I'm only repeating what my mentor told me.
Rhonda in Allentown, Pa.: OK, I understand that most people think it is cool to be seen on TV, but I've had it with those morons who sit behind home plate at the baseball games and go through all sorts of gyrations to be noticed. Phone in hand, probably shouting "Can you see me?" waving, jumping up and down, making faces, basically acting like complete idiots ... all while the rest of us are trying to watch the game. Sometimes there are three or four of them all performing at the same time. Grow up! It isn't that big of a deal. Maybe one or two people who know you are impressed, but the rest of us want to kill you, not to mention those people sitting around you. You're not in the game, you're at the game. Try watching it!
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