indignation

I love my ridiculous home state of Texas. Sometimes it’s hard living here, what with the state being so solidly red (LBJ is not resting peacefully), which leads to some crazy debates in our state agencies.

Like this week, the State Board of Education debated whether or not schools should teach the weaknesses in the theory of evolution.

Now before I go any further, it’s time for some disclosure. I grew up Catholic and I’m still a practicing Catholic (though probably a little more cafeteria Catholic than the Pope might like). Still, I’m a lector, my kids are altar servers and my wife teaches cathecism. I even have a brother who is a deacon in Dallas.

All that being said, I don’t cotton with creationism. On top of that, it was never taught in my nearly 12 years of Catholic eduction. Nor was it taught at the Methodist university I attended.

So it was very refreshing to read a column in the local paper that pointed out that parochial schools are better about dealing with the evolution vs. creation debate than most politicians.

The board came close, but it didn’t change language in the science curriculum. But there’s always another year, and this ridiculousness is far from done.

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This inauguration cover of The New Yorker made conservative heads explode. As one Facebook friend put it, “Another example of the media setting unbelievably high expectations.”

First of all, the cover is only drawing a comparison between President Barack Obama and President George Washington because both were firsts. (Pssst. Barack Obama is a black man and no black person has ever been president.)

But on to the expectations. Granted, some people have ridiculous expectations of our new president. FOX News (of course) had video of some woman saying an Obama administration would mean that she can buy a house and afford groceries and have affordable health care. Those may be unreasonable expecations.

But what are those expectations born from? Could it be that eight years of a dismal administration, compromised values, ballooning government, warrantless wiretapping, war, opaque governing, mishandled disaster relief, culminating with our economy in the toilet, have led us to some pie-in-the-sky dreams?

I think a lot of folks are hoping an Obama administration just gets us back where we were before the Bush administration. It was a time of prosperous peace. People had jobs. Government was more open. We weren’t being spied upon. We did not torture people. Are those expectations so unrealistic?

Think about it this way: It’s the starving person that dreams of a four-course meal, but will be more than happy with a bowl of soup. Soup is on!

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This might have floated under your radar screen, but Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt beat Michael Phelps for the title of male athlete of the year in a poll of international journalists.

This makes me a little bit crazy, as I’m a floundering swimmer. But we’re talking about a guy, in Phelps, who won eight gold medals. Forget that some of them came in relays. He still won eight gold medals. Bolt won three including one in a relay. Each athlete set world records during their incredible time in
Beijing.

But this, to me, smells more like American backlash and unfortunately it has affected an individual, who seems like a really decent guy. I think the world was expecting great things from Phelps and the U.S. was definitely expecting great things. Needless to say, the U.S. and NBC hyped the hell out of Phelps and some of the media probably got tired of the Phelpsteria.

The shame of it is, the world is pretty tired of us. And they have some right to be. As a nation, we don’t always present ourselves well, history be damned. It’s recent history that has left the indelible mark that we can hopefully erase in the coming years.