I know you may be expecting commentary about “American Idol” in this posting, but not this week. For one thing, nothing is really happening on Idol worth talking about, and for another Idol Chatter is just meant as a catch-phrase for all kinds of chatter, which is what I am doing this week. So here goes:

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FALLEN IDOLS

Too bad about Michael Phelps, A-Rod (I hate those nicknames) and all the other athletic superstars who have been, or will be, discovered to have used illegal and/or performance-enhancing drugs. I don’t really waste too much time worrying about them or their images, except in the regard that so many of our impressionable young people might be seduced into following such bad behavior. We can only hope we have instilled in our children and grandchildren the good values that go along with being God-fearing, law-abiding citizens who will do the right things when faced with distractions of these sorts.

Sure, they are going to make mistakes, as we all have. If smoking marijuana is jusst a one-time thing for Phelps, then good for him. Certainly, it doesn’t seem that he could be one of the world’s best athletes while smoking large amounts of pot. At least I wouldn’t expect that he could.

A-Rod is a different story because of the immense importance that baseball fans attach to statistics. If he goes on to become the all-time home run king as everyone expects him to, then those who run the game will have to figure out a way to handle the statistical confusion that is sure to arise. But if it is true that at least 100 other players tested positive for steroids in 2003, then it may be such a widespread habit it may not matter, statistically. I mean, if both pitchers and hitters were juiced up, wouldn’t that nullify any advantage either of them are supposed to have had? Just a thought.

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A PRESIDENT FOR ALL OF US?

I know that President Obama is getting a lot of favorable press for being so tough on conservatives during Monday night’s televised press conference, but I was disappointed. I really thought that he was going to be a new, different kind of leader, full of hope and optimism for the future. What I heard from him was a continuation of the criticism of the Republicans for their “failed policies” of the past. I had hoped (there is that word again) for a more unifying message from a president who knows how to lead and motivate others to come over to his side. He is, after all, president of us all, not just Democrats, right?

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CREATIVE DEBATE

Northeast Florida Sen. Stephen Wise has opened up another can of worms concerning evolution, creationism and intelligent design. Again, I don’t get too worked up over it because I can see all sides of the issue, except for the one that says God didn’t create the universe. Without God at the center of all of the debates, they are useless, in my mind. Whether you believe that God created the universe 10,000 years or 10 billion years ago, it doesn’t matter. You still believe in God. Without that basis, well, it just isn’t worth talking about, in my book. I do, by the way, believe in evolution and I believe that God created the universe. To me they are not exclusively opposite points of view.

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DOWNSIZING

Having gone through a major downsizing myself, I have a great deal of empathy for School Board officials across the state who are having to make tough decisions on cutting the number of school district employees for the coming year. 

In the space of one year, I had to tell three employes whom I had hired that they would no longer have jobs. Each one was tougher than the other. Then, of course, came the day I lost my job, which was on a Thursday. The next morning, one of the managers who had given me the word on the elimination of my job, had to come into the Clay County office to lay off two more employees. As that manager walked into the Clay office, another staffer said, “Here comes the hatchet man,” or something to that effect, I heard later. The manager then went into a private office, closed the door and had a good cry. 

Firing someone is a tough job and you can tell by their faces and how they struggle over employee decisions that it isn’t easy for members of the Clay County School Board, many of whom have been in office for a long period of time and know an overwhelming majority of the people who will be affected by their decisions. In this case, board members are hoping that attrition will take care of the majority of the jobs they will have to eliminate.

That is my chatter on some things. What is yours?