Monday Newsbreak: 10/08

--It looks as if the terrible heat that we've had to endure here in northern Florida for the past few months is finally beginning to wane. I grew up in south Florida and have experienced some severe heat waves up here in Gainesville (the spring of 1984 was the worst). But for sheer perseverance, this year's hot weather wins the top prize. Come on, cold fronts and chilly weather! For me, the ideal temperature range would be a high in the low-sixties (Fahrenheit) and a low in the upper-thirties. So we're still a long way off from that. But I'll take what I can get!

--The University of Florida Gators football team lost its second game in a row, this time to top-ranked Louisiana State, 28-24. The loss was totally avoidable, and the Gators turned the ball over twice in the fourth quarter after amassing a 24-14 lead, giving the Tigers the opportunity they needed to come back and win. Still, UF played a tough, spirited game and I'm proud of them for their gutsy effort. They still have a shot at winning the Eastern Division in the Southeastern Conference, but they'll have to win the rest of their league games (and Tennessee will need to lose to somebody else sometime during the season).

--The press seems to be grooming Hillary Clinton as our next President. I say this because I've lately been reading articles that have diminished the significance of all those "negatives" that she has been receiving in various polls. Although I tend to agree with her politics and respect her for being a careful politician, she does irritate me when she starts to open her mouth and speak. But so did Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush. Do you see where I'm going with this? Having limited public speaking abilities is not something that necessarily disqualifies one from becoming President. And I do believe that Hillary is working hard to become better at it.

--Olympic track star and Gold Medal winner Marion Jones suddenly came out and admitted to steroid use, after several adamant denials in the past. During the course of the reporting about this story, it was revealed that she would typically receive around $70,000 to $80,000 for each race that she ran. To which I must say: whatever happened to amateurism in sports? It used to be that there was a special kind of dignity and honor in being an amateur athlete; in today's hypermaterialistic world, if you're an amateur you're also often regarded as a "chump". I think this philosophy is one of the chief factors in bringing on the plague of cheating. Another factor is the idea of winning-at-all-costs (or you're a "chump" as well if you don't).

--An old friend from many years back recently said on his blog something that I had been thinking myself. Those subcontractors over in Iraq that are performing essentially duties normally performed by our Armed Forces are, in essence, mercenaries! And do you remember learning in school about the hated Hessian mercenaries during our American Revolutionary War? There is something about the use of privately-employed soldiers (let's not mince our words) that tends, at least in my opinion, to diminish the moral standing and mission of the regular, legitimate forces that we are employing.