My View: Things That Make Me Go Hmmmm...

By News Director Bob Longo

POSTED: 1:19 pm EDT September 15, 2004
UPDATED: 1:35 pm EDT September 15, 2004

The world is a crazy, crazy place. Hopefully, that isn't breaking news for you. As someone who is paid to help funnel down all those crazy events that take place each and every day into some sort of sensible package of stories and headlines, I have to tell you....I can't remember the last time things were THIS crazy.

So, as the guy holding the funnel, I thought I'd pass along some observations. These aren't necessarily facts, but rather, my interpretation of some of the facts I'm seeing as the guy who holds that funnel. Call these "things that make me go hmmmm..."

I don't know about you, but I wasn't worried about what was called "a large mushroom cloud" being detected over North Korea. Not until I read that our government had officially "discounted" any likelihood that the cloud was the result of a nuclear test. Once I heard that, and talked with some people who are dialed in and ought to know, I became very concerned. We should believe that there is a high probability that the mushroom cloud observed in North Korea came from some sort of weapons test and that our government, in shadowy, secret ways, is dealing with that event and the truly mind-blowing potential it creates for more instability in an already fractured world.

Why do certain people and groups label as "unpatriotic" anyone who questions the wisdom of the current US policy in and towards Iraq? As the son of a US Marine who was shot several times and lost an eye during the battle for Tarawa during WWII, I have no problems with anyone questioning war of any kind in any place. The wisdom of settling a score with fisticuffs at school is discouraged and dealt with by disciplining the children involved. So, why do we allow grown men to settle scores on the world stage with violence and bullying. Why aren't the people questioning these tactics instead labeled as patriots? Afterall, if they're like level-headed people I know, they simply want our soldiers to be safe from harm, our foreign policy to be consistent, our government and people to be viewed by most in the world as honest and respectable...regardless who is president.

The word is that morale is way down among US Airways workers. This comes from several people I've spoken to in the past couple of days who've been flying the airline. Is anyone surprised to hear that? Why wouldn't morale be down? Employees there have been through the mill since the collapse of the airline industry following Sept. 11, 2001. The industry business paradigm shifted. Dramatically. What ought to make employees, passengers and people in hub communities like Pittsburgh, Philly and Charlotte scratch their heads is: why would it take so long for a company to figure out that there has been a shift and come up with a new, better plan that deals with it and promises a bright future? Could it be that this is exactly where they needed to be to get to that bright future, but didn't know of any other way to get there?

And finally, I've become a member of the dreaded "Crackberry Generation." Maybe you've seen others. People who, despite whatever real world, real life interaction they may be in the midst of, feel compelled to check their Blackberry e-mail device to see what other people want of them. I'm battling the early stages of the disease: rudeness to people around me, becoming more of a workaholic than I already am, and losing the hard fought for sense of balance in my life.

Wish me well.

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