Of Bushes and Custards

So, as a nice little addendum to my rant about the litigious nature of our society, it turns out that the jerk who found the tip of a finger in his frozen custard refused to return it to its... er... owner. Had he not been blinded by dollar signs, the finger could have been reattached. Apparently, if a severed limb or digit is reattached within about six hours, there's a good chance for reintegration. But no. Mr. Jackass Clarence Custardeater refused to return it, and took the thing home and stuck it in his freezer, thus killing the cells in the finger and eliminating any chance of reattachment. Now, he could have photographed it, got a signed affadavit from the attending doctor or surgeon regarding its reattachment, etc., and still preserved the evidence for his big upcoming lawsuit. But he figured his potential jackpot was more important that this poor person's finger being reattached to his hand.

This article says that public opinion is turning very much against the customer. A North Carolina newspaper editorial lambasted him, saying, "But it's a mystery how that customer can live with himself after he refused to return the finger so that doctors might try to reattach it. Unless he offers a better explanation for that decision, people will assume that customer Clarence Stowers cared less about another person's loss of a body part than about his chance to squeeze some bucks out of the custard stand." For my part, I truly hope that this man's selfish greed and unbridled lust for litigation will be his undoing. I can't imagine a jury awarding him a huge settlement when his assholiness cost the employee any chance of having a normal, functioning hand again. I hate people.

Random question: When did TV shows cease to become just TV shows and become "events"? Now, every radio spot for even the most mundane of weekly shows bills it (complete with deep-voiced announcer and dramatic music) as an EVENT. "Don't miss the two-hour O.C. event" or "Tonight, on an all-new Law & Order event..." Can I call bullshit here? Because this? Is total bullshit. One would be hard-pressed to find a single night in which some mutated form of Law & Order, whether first-run or repeat, doesn't air on at least one TV channel. So how is anything this show dishes out deserving of being called an event? I get my mail every day... should I call it a "mail delivery event" now?

And now, for the Bush-bashing portion of our blogging event:

Seems decimating the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska isn't enough for Bush and his "money-before-everything" cronies. Wait... I mean "ANWR" because if we actually called it a "Wildlife Refuge," people might equate it with being a refuge and think that drilling it full of oil derricks might not be the best thing for the wildlife there. An acronym is much more detached. Anyhoo... so after polishing off the wildlife refuge up north, Bush turned his attention to the National Parks and Forests. Seems there aren't enough roads in the forests. Because, you know, without roads, you can't bring in commerce and industry.

So with one stroke of his evil pen, Bush opened up 58.5 million acres of pristine wilderness to industry, logging, etc. He overturned what USA Today called "one of the most significant land conservation measures of the Clinton presidency." Although spread over the entire nation, 97% of the affected lands are in twelve Western states (nearly 4.5 million acres are here in Colorado). Nice. I weep for the damage Bush and his administration will do with his remaining 45 months in office.