Recently in Stupidity Category

I have to admit I almost thought a comment that was caught by Akismet really wasn't spam. It was on my post on Sherri Shepherd's interpretation of history where I made a reference to Art Linkletter's House Party. The incoming message said they had found it via Google and it had a link to a web site with a similar last name (leave it at that). Funny, Google had not caught up with my feed when the first comment was left. Nor the second. Nor the third or the fourth. Tiny variations on a theme they all were, but methinks they were to drive up a web site rank. Not on my dime ;-)

In a country where Dancing with the Stars is the number one rated TV show and the nation's book reading is guided by a talk show host, nothing amazes me anymore. It used to be Art Linkletter's Kids Say the Darnedest Things on House Party, where obviously young school kids would say things that were totally absurd. But they are kids and have not had the benefit of higher education and life experience - it is expected of them. Enter Sherri Shepherd, one of the co-idiots on ABC's daytime show, The View. According to the blurb on YouTube, Sherri, during a discussion about Epicurus, who predates Jesus by over 300 years, Sherri makes the remark, "Nothing predates the Christians". Listen for yourself... I especially like one of the astute comments made on YouTube: Don't blame the girl. Blame the people who educated her. According to Wikipedia, she grew up in a seemingly nice Chicago suburb and worked as a legal secretary before turning to comedy so she must have at least graduated from high school. A Jehovah's Witness turned born-again Christian? So she went from being a fundamentalist Christian to a... fundamentalist Christian? Must make sense to someone ;) Anyway, she appears to have lived and breathed during the 20th Century, had at least a public school education, and pursued a real job, prior to entering fantasyland. So even if she never listened in public and/or private schools, if she is so freakin' religious and has read the Bible, she should know that in the plot line that Jesus (or a reference by name to Jesus) does not appear until the New Testament. So, students, the question of the hour is...

If there was nothing before Jesus, who wrote thirty-nine books of the Old Testament?

Must have been magic! Oh, and isn't Jesus the Son of God? And what about all those written about in the Old Testament, like our favorite parents of all mankind, Adam and Eve? Wait a minute... did not Jesus come to save us all because Eve was tempted by the devil in the Garden and gave the apple to Adam? So, I think the lovely Sherri needs a little remedial bible school training as well. Perhaps she needs to engage her brain prior to vibrating those vocal chords. The bigger question I have... how many people out there sent in complaint mail to the network in support of Sherri's statements, knowing that she was speaking The Truth! Scary thought, eh? So, the next time you get the urge to watch The View, go find a library and read a book (non-fiction, preferably). (Via Petulant Rumblings and The Daily Background)

Hello? Does anybody see something wrong with this picture? Only one thing to say to all those iPod junkies that buy this: get a life! Disconnect from the device and do something worthwhile with your time. Maybe take a walk with someone and actually talk to them (not via cell phone) or volunteer to do something for your community or your school. (via Ananova and the Left Coast Conspiracy)

This warrants a new category: stupidity. When I head for the station when we get a call, I always try and pay special attention driving through the neighborhood. Yes, I turn on the blue light and the headlights (day or night), but I really need to keep it slow with all the kids on bikes and playing in their yards. Yesterday, I was heading out for a call and I saw that there were a couple of kids and their mother on bikes down by the small stream down the street. Well, the kids were already pulling off the road, but the mother was circling in the middle of the street, talking on her cell phone. No, she wasn't watching her kids (youngish, 6 or 7) or for traffic (me), but yak, yak, yakking on her freaking cell phone. When I got closer, seeing that she was totally oblivious to me trying to get to the fire house, I tapped the horn once, a courtesy tap, not a long get-the-you-know-what out of my way. Her reaction was to look up from her important conversation and extend the one-finger salute to me with the hand she was holding her precious communications device. Go figure - this is the same kind of person who bitches when the fire department doesn't get to her house in 10 seconds when she burns the toast and sets off the alarms. This kind of behavior reminds me of something from our company's web site. It goes like this... “We Can’t Win” When the fire trucks are delayed 40 seconds in traffic, People say: "It took them 20 minutes to get here." When the truck races at 40 m.p.h., it's: "Look at those reckless fools." When four men struggle with an eight-man ladder: "They don't even know how to raise a ladder." When firemen open windows for ventilation to reduce heat in fighting a fire: "Look at the wrecking crew." When they open the floor to get at a blaze: "There goes the axe squad." If the chief stands back where he can see and direct his men, people say: "He's afraid to go where he sends his men." If they lose a building: "It's a lousy department." If they make a good "stop" folks say: "The fire didn't amount to much." If lots of water is necessary: "They are doing more damage with water than the flames." If a fireman gets hurt: "He was a careless guy." It a citizen gets hurt: "It's a crazy department." If a fireman inspects a citizen's property: "He's meddling in somebody's business." If he wants a fire hazard corrected: "I'll see the mayor." If he gets killed and leaves a family destitute: "That's the chance he took when he joined the fire department."