FOUR FOR FRIDAY

Q1 - Human Nature: The new season of “Big Brother” (a popular reality television show on CBS) already has more than its share of controversies. One guy has been accused of being a racist; one woman has been called a whore; another was called the “c” word, over and over, loudly; one man referred to autistic people as “retards”; one couple is pretending to be lesbians; one woman revealed that her dad committed suicide, only to later have a roommate tell her to “go hang yourself.” Regardless of whether you watch the particular television show in question, can all of this be good for the television viewing audience (that these issues are raised)? Or is it just shameless provocation? Is human nature really this bad?

I believe it is the presence of cameras and knowledge of an audience that is making the show’s participants act up and out more.
These reality shows are turning us into a society of rubberneckers and voyeurs.
Every one feels free to sell their, your story, any story for their fifteen minutes of talk or reality show fame.

Q2 - Foreign Relations: Three days after stepping down as Cuban leader, Fidel Castro is calling on the United States to change its longtime policy of sanctions toward Cuba. Do you think the United States should lift its embargo on Cuba?

Yes, I think it would be great for both countries.
Both economies would benefit.
Hey, imagine how many cigars they’d sell us.

Q3 - Stamp It: Earlier this week, the U.S. Postal Service immortalized novelist Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings (1896-1953), best known for her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Yearling, and her memoir Cross Creek In the foreground of the stamp art is a portrait of Kinnan Rawlings based on an undated photograph. The background depicts a fawn at a watering hole in the Florida scrub, which is consistent with descriptions in The Yearling. Who, if anyone, would you like to see immortalized on a postage stamp, and what imagery would you suggest including on the stamp?

I think we should have a series of stamps that will honor everyday heros.
There could be a website that devotes a page to each.

Q4 - Lineage: How far back can you trace your family’s lineage?

I’ve always wanted to find out more about my mother’s family. Unfortunately she was an only child, and her mother a widow disappeared right after my parent’s wedding.
As for dad’s side, I know I have many relatives in Italy and a few in Argentina.
It would be a matter of going to Sorrento’s Amalfi’s mountains and looking them up.

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