Punish Success?

So, I just read an article online the other day about a situation that really irritates me...
There's a 9-year old kid in New Haven Connecticut who can throw a 40 mph fastball!!
Good for him, huh? Wrong!!!!!
Everybody knows that if you can throw faster than other kids your age, you shouldn't be allowed to play baseball... (heavy sarcasm...)
The league told the boy's coach that he cannot pitch. If the boy pitches, the league will disband the entire team. The coach did not allow the kid to pitch the next game. However, he understood the injustice that was being done and defied the wishes of the league by allowing the kid to pitch in the next game (2nd game after ban). The team's opponent for that game saw that he was pitching, packed up their equipment, and left, forfeiting the game... The league's legal representative justified the actions of the league by saying, "There are a lot of beginners. This is not a high-powered league. This is a developmental league whose main purpose is to promote the sport."
3 obvious questions about this story....
1) What kind of mindset convinces someone that it is okay to punish one person for being better at something than his peers? (Answer to come later)
2) What kind of mindset convinces someone that it is justifiable to punish several kids for the actions of one kid? (I'm talking to you, school teachers! ;) ) (Answer to come later)
3) What kind of developmental league limits the available development of it's members?

My answers to the obvious questions.......
1)

• Who punishes investors for making intelligent and informed investment decisions? The liberals.
• Who punishes a corporation for putting together a successful (and legal) business strategy, resulting in great profits for the corporation's shareholders? The liberals...
• Who complains when a company can't compete with a better/bigger competitor? The liberals...

It is obvious to me that it is a completely liberal mindset that allows this sort of thing to happen to a kid who is "too good" at baseball. In their selfish and self-entitled minds, they can't handle the fact that people are better at things than other people, especially if they or their kids are not the "better than" person...

2) Sorry, school teachers... The idea that you should punish a group of people for the supposed transgressions of one person is a completely socialist ideal. I remember this happening in elementary school and being baffled by the idea that I should be punished for somebody else's actions simply because we happened to be in the same room... If you feel like being caught up in this sort of society, then by all means, join the socialists... You can find them here.

3) Finally, what is the baseball league trying to "develop" the players into? Wussies? Look, if you want every kid to get a trophy/award, and every kid to be a "winner", then T-ball is the limit... If you want to teach your kid that when he's not good enough all he has to do is complain or quit, and he'll be taken care of, then I've got a problem with that. That kid will end up having the same entitled attitude as you, at the expense of everybody who is trying to "develop" into something more... When your kid gets poor grades at school, it is you who complains until the teacher raises his grade just enough to get you off his back... That, again, is punishing those kids who actually earned better grades.

Am I way off base here? If I'm wrong, please, someone tell me... There's a guy at work who's better at typing than me, and I'm thinking of having him punished...

Pacifier Fairy Update

The Pacifier Fairy came and visited Gracie Saturday night... Laurie helped Gracie put all of her pacifiers in a gift bag and then hung it from the door knob of our spare bedroom (which is still a spare bedroom if anyone cares to visit...) The Pacifier Fairy came in the middle of the night and took the 'fiers. In their place, she left 5 plastic animals, not unlike the ones that Gracie's cousin Scottie has, and Gracie seemed to love...
Gracie has been a very big girl about it, and it hasn't been that big of a challenge to get her to sleep at night. Occasionally, she'll ask for her 'fier, and we have to remind her that she doesn't have a 'fier anymore. The Pacifier Fairy took them and gave them to other little kids that didn't have a 'fier, and she brought Gracie animals instead... She gets quite a pouty lip, and has cried a couple of times, but she cheers up quickly enough.
I think I failed to consider the best aspect of the Pacifier Fairy idea until after the fact... The best thing about a pacifier fairy, is that when your daughter is upset about not having a 'fier, and you're trying to comfort her, you can totally deflect blame to the Pacifier Fairy, and she holds no animosity towards you for taking it away. Bonus!!!!

I just realized that Laurie already posted about the fairy, but I'll post this anyway...

My turn to blog about Gracie!

Laurie always gets to brag about the funny things that Gracie does, so the other day, she did something funny and I called "dibs"! The other night, we were trying to convince Gracie to eat her dinner. She used to be so good about eating her dinner, but lately, she's struggling. Anyway, we tried everything... we told her she could have ice cream if she ate "some" of her dinner. We told her if she didn't eat, she couldn't get down. Finally, we told he if she wanted to be a big girl then she had better eat her dinner... she replied by saying, "I big enuff!" Another story I called dibs on.... Last night, we were on our way to Red Robin to eat some burgers, and we were talking about the "Pacifier Fairy" coming to visit Gracie. I don't remember who Laurie got the idea from, but if you're unfamiliar, the Pacifier Fairy comes and takes your pacifier and leaves you a toy... Gracie has been resisting the Pacifier Fairy for quite awhile now, but we've decided that the Fairy will come whether she's ready or not... Anyway, we started talking to Gracie about the Pacifier Fairy coming, and she responded by asking, "The Pacifier Fairy coming? HE bring me a toy?" I swear that I have done nothing to teach her what a fairy is, but she just seems to know through instinct! She knows the difference between boys and girls, and even uses "he" and "she" correctly. I think my daughter may actually have GAYDAR!!!

More about oil

Don't get me wrong, I hate paying high gas prices just as much as anybody, but let's not look for a scapegoat, and tax ourselves into a worse situation...
I realize I already posted my gripes about people (the media) villianizing the oil companies, but I found some more info that was interesting.
We hear the media talking everyday about "big oil's" "windfall profits", and how congress is considering taxing these windfall profits. I'll be honest, and state that I had no idea what "windfall profit" actually meant, but it still ticked me off, knowing that oil companies profit margins are not out of line when you look compare to other industries. So, I looked up what "windfall profit" really is.
Basically, a "windfall" profit is one that politicians decide wasn't an expected profit, and was not a result of efforts of the firm. The definition is not well defined anywhere, so politicians are free to call any profit a "windfall" profit. The idea is that since the company didn't "expect" the profit, they should share those profits with the government at a higher rate than the normal corporate tax rate.
The question is, "Who is being taxed, when Congress decides to tax these profits?" The answer is, "Me and you." Anyone who holds any stock whatsoever in the oil company is paying for making a sound investment. If you have a 401k, it is a virtual certitude that you have money invested in "big oil" (shame on you, you sellout!!!)
Some people argue that the oil corporations are already receiving huge tax breaks... The reality is that they are receiving tax breaks, just like all U.S. manufacturers are receiving tax breaks. I can't state the values of the tax breaks for oil vs. the tax breaks for other U.S. manufacturers, but the way the media portrays it, it seems like "big oil" is the only industry receiving them... By the way, Congress isn't looking just to end tax breaks for oil companies... they want to take that money and use it to subsidize alternative energy companies. How is that fair?
I did some more research on profit growth for different industries (for 2007, since 2008 data isn't available). Here's my source (Fortune, again).
Below are some standouts, with their ranks... remember this is PROFIT GROWTH in 2007:
5. Airlines 33.8% (poor airlines. Fuel $ is killing their margins (rolls eyes)
8. Entertainment 25.6% (everybody loves celebs. telling them how to think)
10. Household and Personal Products 20.3%
18. Real Estate 10.5% (even in a crap market, real estate has growing profits
22. Beverages 7.6%
35. Petroleum Refining -0.7% WHAT?! Their profits are actually shrinking!!!!
39. Mining, Crude-Oil Production -9.1% Oh! The Humanity! We're being robbed!!!!!
Are we really going to let Congress, the media, and Alec Baldwin tell us that they are experiencing "windfall" profits when their profits are actually shrinking? Are we suggesting that they shouldn't "expect" to beat last years profits? That they should run a failing business? That will really help investment...

Don't get me wrong, I hate paying high gas prices just as much as anybody, but let's not look for a scapegoat, and tax ourselves into a worse situation...

Mind your own business, woman!!!!

Last Friday, I was home from work, and Laurie and I decided to take Gracie swimming. It turns out that every Friday is "pool day" for our ward at this particular rec. center we decided to go to. So, when we get to the pool, there are already about 8-10 mothers from our ward with their children there... I was the only dad.
If you know me, you probably already know that I am one very hairy man... Chest, Arms, Legs, Back... everywhere. In fact, several years ago, when Laurie and I went on a cruise, I entered the hairy chest contest, and was only beaten by one old man who wasn't nearly as hairy as I was, but had saggy breasts that the crowd loved for some reason... anyway, that's a different story. My point is, I'm really hairy. Sometimes I feel a little self-conscious about it, but not nearly enough to wear a t-shirt while swimming.
So, we get ready to swim, and I take my t-shirt off. My lovely body hair floating on the warm breeze... My family had a great time swimming, and although I thought about the hair occasionally while swimming, it didn't bother me all that much.
FAST FORWARD...
This week, I hear from a man in our ward that one of the women from our ward who was at the pool that day was slightly disgusted by my body hair. She went home and forced her husband to shave his chest... I AM JUST A LITTLE PISSED OFF ABOUT THIS!!!!!! I mean, it's not mold, or a virus or anything... it's hair. How shallow can you be? The worst part is that she (or her husband) feels the need to talk about it in ward social circles as though I'm Quasimoto or something...
I'm considering now, how I should react to this. So far, I've come up with two alternatives, as follows:
1) I could confront this woman and tell her to "kiss my hairy white butt!", which would probably be considered as crass, and probably wouldn't win me any friends.
2) I could start a story floating around our ward about how I'm considering forcing Laurie to remove her skin. That way, there will be no chance that her skin will ever be as wrinkly and old-leather looking as the skin of the shallow woman at the pool. I could start by just telling a few strategic people in the ward, and, no doubt, the story would soon reach her ears... Then she would either feel like a real dumb-a or be really ticked at me or both. This is probably not a good response either.

So, I'm left to do nothing put fell inner angst at this situation, and publish it to the entire world on my blog (I think only about 2.5 people read this blog anyway). There's always the chance that somehow people in my ward will find this blog and then start the story for me anyway... That would be fun!

Finally, one further option is to stand up in testimony meeting at church and summarize the Dr. Seuss story of the "Star-Belly Sneetches", and follow it up with a statement that we shouldn't judge ourselves better than others because we do or don't have stars or hair on our bellies. Sometimes people are too shallow to understand the jab is directed at them though, so it would probably be a waste of effort on my part.

I guess I'm stuck with venting on my blog... 'Til next time!

Northwest Airlines

Just a quick one here... Did anyone notice that Northwest Airlines is starting to charge a "fuel surcharge" on most domestic flights? If you read my post about oil company profit margins, you know that Northwest Airlines is the one airline that is making a higher profit than any major oil company... yet they have the gall to charge us a surcharge for fuel as though it is breaking their profits...