They Were the Breast of Times, They Were the Worst of Times

Long time, no blog, eh? Well, with Christmas, a nascent county commission campaign and the Panther's run to the Superbowl, I kinda lost track of things. But, I'm back.

First topic up? What else, boob/breast/nipple-gate. And, I'll be quick and to the point. Don't we have something better to do with our time?

• There's a presidential primary.


• The new budget, with a deficit of $500 billion (not including Mars missions, funds for Iraq or Afghanistan) is out there.


• Some homegrown terrorists in Texas built a cyanide bomb.


• Ricin, a deadly poison was found in the Senate office building.


• Our vice-president went on a cushy hunting trip with one of the judges (Antonin Scalia) in his upcoming trial about secrecy.


• Serious questions about our president having been derelict in his duty to the National Guard keep popping up.


• The WMD Intel Investigation chair is a judge with ties to the October Surprise scandal, the Iran Contra scandal and was none too impartial in his treatment of Bill Clinton.


• A staffer in the Senate Majority Leader's office allegedly stole hundreds of memos from the Senate Democrats' file server. His defense was that a) they should have patched the hole and b) the evidence that the Dems consulted with outside officials regarding judicial appointments is the end that justified the means.


• The Valerie Plame outing investigation appears to be nearing conclusion with indictments expected soon against a VERY senior staffer in our vice-president's office.


• Another VERY mediocre job growth report from January, which has been trumpeted as the sign from above that the economy is good.

I could go on, but I think my point is clear. We, as a nation, have a lot to think about, and wasting a week on a two second flash of breast on TV is ludicrous.

And let's stop for a second and consider that flash. I was watching (I'm ashamed to admit) the halftime show. Ashamed because that means I was abetting this ridiculous example of flash and style. Anyway, I was watching when the incident happened. It was shown for maybe two seconds. My reaction was, "Huh? What was that?" And it was gone before I could double check to see if I saw what I thought I saw. Now, I was at a party for the game. There were around twenty-five or so folks there, and as far as I could tell, I was one of only two who thought they saw something. Now one must wonder how much damage a two second flash could to to ANYONE, particularly a flash from long range. I find all these accounts of horrifying damage to the fabric of our nation to be a bit (okay, a lot) overwrought.

Secondly, let's stop for a moment and think about this. It's a breast. Half of us come equipped with them, the other half have likely seen them at some point. It's not something that's earth-shattering by any means. What is so all-fired EVIL about a two second, long range, flash of a human breast.

Now, if folks want to complain not so much about the breast, but the general tone of the show, then, perhaps, there is something to talk about. I'm pretty liberal when it comes to the content of entertainment, but I can see that the halftime show was not exactly G-rated fare, and that the halftime show of the Superbowl perhaps should be. That is a discussion worth having. I hope that all the folks out there who are upset by that content recognize that this is, to a large extent, the sort of stuff that is the staple of popular music today. The performances were no real surprise for me - I own Kid Rock's last album, and I've heard enough Nelly and P. Diddy to know what their material is like. Do I think it is suitable for all ages? Nope. Should it have been? Yep - since the Superbowl is, in theory, an all ages affair. Of course, I think the advertisements on sporting events have been bordering on PG for a while anyway, and the fixation on erectile dysfunction remedies certainly wasn't exactly family fare. And, in terms of square inches and close looks, I saw more of the Patriot cheerleaders' cleavage than I did Janet's.

Of course, I am a football fan. To me, all halftime shows should be a couple of marching bands and enough time to get snacks and drinks. Extended halftimes tear up fields, interrupt the flow of the game, and also present problems of staying loose for the athletes. That is, to me, enough reason to stop this sort of thing.

So, if you were offended by the halftime show, speak up. Once you have registered your displeasure, let's drop it and get on with more meaningful topics. Also, take the time to realize that the music and lyrics that so offended you are precisely the sort of thing found on mainstream radio today. That means the country is buying the records and listening to the music. Perhaps a more constructive dialogue would be with our children about why they like this music and why you do not. Maybe we can all learn something from interacting with our children.

Nah - let's run over to the internet and check out the extreme close up of the breast seen round the world again.