This is Viewpoints for Friday, October 7, 2017

Jumping the shark

The above term comes from a TV show, “Happy Days.” The hit show, no longer fresh, felt it could broadcast anything no matter how ridiculous. Writers had taken the audience for granted with plots that insulted and disrespected viewers. The iconic episode had Fonzi riding on water skis and jumping over a shark while wearing his leather jacket. Viewers, deciding the show was no longer entertaining, stopped tuning in. The once captivated audience had had enough of the nonsense being broadcast.

Nowadays, the NFL has reached it’s peak and jumped the shark. People can tolerate only a certain amount of a an overly-hyped product. Rule changes are slowing the game down until it is boring to watch. Fans are treated to idiotic pregame and post game shows designed solely to sell ads, not honor the sport. Parking and concession prices exhibit nothing but greed. Hypocrisy runs rampant as they do not enforce their rules. Players are fined for twerking but defended for disrespecting the national anthem. Tim Tebow was run out of the game for kneeling but Jerry Jones gets credited for bravery? Players have come to believe their views are more important than the game itself.

The NFL has had a wonderful run, but it’s over. Their product is no longer fresh and they are losing their audience. The NFL has become our newest dinosaur.

Set up to fail

Republicans tried for more than seven years to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, more commonly known as Obamacare. They failed. But, beware, they are not finished with their plan to kill it. With no assurances from the administration of funding for subsidies, Ralph Hudgens, Georgia’s insurance commissioner, has authorized a more than 50 percent rate hike for the four insurers participating in the exchange, pricing many Georgians out of the health insurance market all together.

Big donors (you know who you are) have threatened withdrawal of donations to those same Republicans if they don’t get rid of the ACA for no other reason than greed. To eliminate this threat, the administration has called on former Secretary of Health and Human Services Tom Price, the architect of the ACA execution. Dr. Price slashed funding for advertising and assistance in open enrollment. Next, he cut the enrollment period to forty-five days. Then, he scheduled bogus maintenance on the computer program on weekends making it inconvenient for working families to enroll. If any other person so incompetently scheduled computer maintenance during peak hours, he would be fired for that. Rather he was fired for outlandish travel expenses.

Disgrace to flag

The NFL protest controversy is just this week’s arm-waving distraction blown up by President Trump. He was trying to divert the narrative from peaceful protests against police brutality to “SOBs” disrespecting the flag. He takes every opportunity he can find to drive a wedge and pit citizen against citizen. He degrades men of honor who peacefully and legally brought attention to an extremely serious national problem that is actually killing, crippling and disfiguring thousands of Americans every single year.

It was front page network news when a white nurse got handcuffed, but little is said and less is done about the injustices served on minority citizens who gets in the way of a cop having a bad day. New York City, paid out over $228 million for judgments in police misconduct lawsuits in 2016 alone. Over a quarter billion dollars worth of misery dealt out in a single city in one year.

The NFL players and owners are protesting for those who cannot protect themselves from those who were sworn to serve and protect. This is such an honorable fight that it demands our respect, whatever the affront to the sensibilities of sports fans. The NFL players’ warning to all citizens honors every single thread in the flag. Update: It was reported today that President Trump was joking with his Republican cronies about how stirred up he had gotten his base with “this flag thing.” He is using our patriotism against us. That is the real disgrace to our flag.

A good laugh?

In his Sept 24 column (The beauty of uncertainty) Bill Cumming wrote, “…many decades after his death, our four evangelists imagined Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane agonizing over his impending capture.” The apostles were at Gethsemane that night. There was no imagining.

He says the apostles painted a picture of Jesus as being uncertain about his future and describes Jesus as sweating and crying and trying to pray his way out of doubt and uncertainty. That is fork-tongued preaching. Knowing his future is the reason Jesus was on his knees at Gethsemane praying, sweating blood and weeping in agony as he pleaded with his father to remove the cup of wrath he was about to drink.

Cummings continued, “Christianity can be serenely uncomfortable, but I think it only becomes absurd when Christians claim certainty.” Saying it’s absurd for Christians to believe with certainty that Jesus is the son of God is stupid on steroids.

This former Catholic priest still doesn’t know if the church he devoted much of his life to is a Christian Church or not. Because he’s constantly asking: are Catholics Christians? For the umpteenth time, Catholics are Christians.

Writing these type columns tickles him to the point where he finds himself laughing in the middle of them. So the next time you read one of his column about Christianity visualize him at the keyboard laughing his butt off.

Government waste

Since Secretary Tom Price was caught, along with a growing list of Trump’s cabinet, is it any wonder why taxpayers are enraged about free travel? All of us have been aware that waste is a congressional pastime. Federal and state legislators have been caught with their pants down going both ways.

When the next election comes around, hopefully all of us retiring folks of the 314 million, legal or not, will throw the majority of these hypocrites in the unemployment lines.

Twenty trillion dollars in debt will have swollen by two trillion dollars given gross negligence in all divisions of government.

This story was originally published October 5, 2017 at 9:00 PM with the headline "This is Viewpoints for Friday, October 7, 2017."