In lieu of a column on whether the world is indeed ready for another Super Bowl appearance by the New England Patriots, I give you scattered thoughts…
I truly feel for Rand Paul, the U.S. senator from Kentucky who was detained at a Nashville airport this week by officials with the Transportation Security Administration.
The incident came after agents from the TSA’s elite “X-ray Recognition Unit” detected what they termed an “anomaly” in the senator’s body scan.
(On a related note, I just received an email from a Mexican pharmacy offering to increase the size of my anomaly. They promise that my girlfriend will thank me for it. I am carefully considering their proposal.)
Anyway, instead of submitting to a simple pat-down, Sen. Paul demanded to re-enter the body scanner — along with his anomaly — to prove he posed no credible security threat.
And to their credit, the TSA held out for a good two hours, until finally relenting and allowing the lawmaker to have his way with federal regulations.
You know, while we’re revamping air travel, can we also please eliminate the draconian policy that prohibits me from listening to the Black Eyed Peas below 10,000 feet?
Former NBA All-Star Yao Ming has discovered life after basketball.
Since officially retiring from the hardwood, the 7-foot-6 Yao is embarking on a number of worthwhile pursuits, among them opening a vineyard (who knew he was a connoisseur?) enrolling in college, and entering the political arena as a member of Shanghai’s Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.
And while I’m always one to applaud ambition, isn’t it possible someone’s putting the rickshaw before the horse here?
Think about it: Yao’s formal education consists of a few years of junior sports school, beginning at age 9, followed by a whole lot of X’s and O’s for about the next two decades.
I’m just saying, he probably didn’t find his way to a whole lot of political science lectures (or social studies classes, for that matter).
I’m likely alone on this one, but yours truly was absolutely giddy over the news that my boyhood heroes — none other than Miami’s original bad boys, the 2 Live Crew — were reuniting for a triumphant tour in 2012.
For the uninitiated, the Crew are pioneers of sorts, particularly in my hometown.
You see, in the late 1980s, their bass-heavy ode to mirth “As Nasty As They Wanna Be” became a rallying cry for free speech after Broward County (Fla.) officials sought to ban the album under local obscenity laws. Crew leader Luther Campbell felt authorities should focus instead on addressing issues like poverty and hunger.
A lengthy legal battle ensued, but in 1992 a federal appeals court ruled that Campbell and co. could indeed be as nasty as they wanted to be. The best part: As a result of the controversy, ANATWB, a mediocre record by all accounts, sold over 2 million copies.
Now that’s justice! Welcome back fellas.
