Cindy Sheehan has given up her protest, leading a lot of war supporters to cheer. She was staunch anti-war figure and did have a family member pay the ultimate price for her right to say what she said.

I do not necessarily agree with everything that Sheehan said but something in the article that I linked to above struck a chord with me.

“I have tried ever since he died to make his sacrifice meaningful,” she wrote. “Casey died for a country which cares more about who will be the next American Idol than how many people will be killed in the next few months while Democrats and Republicans play politics with human lives.

“It is so painful to me to know that I bought into this system for so many years, and Casey paid the price for that allegiance. I failed my boy and that hurts the most.”

I must say that I agree wholeheartedly with her and it’s a tragic realization. Americans are ignoring the events that surround them and the cost is just now being realized. Soon, if something does not change, we will be a nation of television watchers with very little understanding of what is happening around us.

Sheehan also points out a flaw in the anti-war movement, personal egos. The egos of those who have the ability to enact change have crippled the anti-war movement and in my mind, the Democratic Party, from making any serious advances.

Life is fragile, so the one thing that irritates me more than anything else is when I see a child maneuvering freely in a moving vehicle. How do parents allow something like this?

This morning I watched two children, neither older than five years old, roll down the rear passenger window and stick their bodies halfway out of the car. The driver, who I assume was the parent, did not seem to mind at all. I wonder if they would have noticed if one of the children fell out.

Of all of the precautions a parent could take a seatbelt is the most simple. You buckle the child in, you tell them not to touch it, and you reprimand them if they do. Even better is a car seat. These parents who blow off the law will either be responsible for their child’s death or for that child’s misunderstanding of rules and authority.

I just cannot believe that something so easily preventable is ignored so very much.

By now, the news that Roger Clemens will be returning to New York to play for the Yankees has reached almost everyone who cares about baseball.

Some have voiced their opinion over the matter and their disagreement with the move while Yankee fans think it could change things for them.

Here in Houston the mood is a little different. We are sad to see him go but at the same time cannot wait for the revolving door to hit him in the butt as he walks out. He is a great pitcher, when he’s on. When he’s off, you might as well write-off the game and hope for the best.

At some point you have to ask yourself, “Should I retire finally?” and I think Clemens has skipped over that and is now asking himself “Do you think they’ll let my skeleton pitch?”. I am sure if Hakeem Olajuwon announced that he would be making a comeback to the NBA, people would laugh him out of the press conference.

So, Yankees fans, you can have Roger. You can cheer him on while asking yourself, “Why am I paying $14 for a hot dog”, then remember that you have “The Rocket” and shovel another $12 to the vendor for your peanuts. I on the other hand will be enjoying the Astros with a half-priced hot dog and an all around good team, not a bunch of overpaid fellas with egos bigger than their batting averages.

I flew to Dallas this past Tuesday for a meeting and testing turnover. The flight took-off at 6am, giving me the following view as we popped out of the clouds:

A good majority of business people really hate flying, airports, and the whole travel process. I seem to thrive in it. Yes, at times the stress of it gets to me, but the fact that I get to fly 40,000 ft. above the earth and see things like the above makes it worth it.

The fact that I love to fly doesn’t hurt either. In fact, even though I bring a book and my iPod on flights I usually stare out the window for at least 30 minutes, just out of sheer elation that I am above the ground and heading somewhere new. I probably look like a first time flyer but it doesn’t matter, I am amazed by flight and do not mind showing it.