It's a crazy and sometimes sad, world!

Yesterday, Matt Garcia, a city councilman for the nearby community of Fairfield was shot in the head. Today, he was taken off of life support and died fairly quickly. What is particularly tragic about this loss is that the councilman was just 22 years old. I remember hearing about him last year during the elections, the young man who had always wanted to give back to his community, particularly dealing with crime. He was so young, too young, to have his life snuffed away in a split second. Some pretender of being a human being got out of his car last night, though, and fired multiple shots at Garcia. Our governor has already put in place a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the killer. They really don't know much and believe it could be a gang member. After all, Garcia's platform for election was crime prevention. I don't know much about Matt Garcia, but this news stunned me. I remember that young, determined face clearly from the election news. It's just so sad, and it's such a crazy world that we live in.

For the first time in many years, I watched the Jerry Lewis MDA telethon on Sunday night/Monday. I grew up watching the telethons religiously, but when my finances became such that I couldn't give, I sort of felt guilty for watching. Plus, local channels weren't carrying the entire thing for a while. I'm not sure what got me to turn it on this year, but I'm glad I did.

Billy Gilman was on, and I remember him from when he was a kid with a hit country song ("One Voice" about a kid with a gun; it got a tremendous amount of airplay and attention). I haven't seen him in years, but there he was, the national youth ambassador for MDA this year apparently. Wow, what a showman. No wonder Jerry likes him. Billy knows how to put on a show. Each number he did reminded me of the old days, when the real performers took center stage. I checked his website; he's 20 now. Well done, Billy ... and don't be ashamed of those tears you shed and tried to cover up. You're a good kid, er man!

I've created a new yahoo group called SwayStar. If's for anyone who wants to be notified when I have a new review on Review Stream, new article on Helium, or whatever other ventures I have in the future that helps me get by financially. Some folks like the email delivery option instead of having to come to the blog or having it sent to lists that have another focus. The link for SwayStar is on the right hand side of this blog, towards the top.