HOT AIR BUFFOON

I've been doing some thinking about the balloon family in Colorado. I'm not sure it was a pre-planned hoax. But, if it wasn't planned, they sure were quick to milk it, and then to throw it up. Maybe the balloon flight wasn't staged, but I feel pretty sure the vomiting was.

It's a sure fire way to get an interviewer to stop asking embarrassing questions. I'm guessing it's something we'll see politicans add to their repetoire of evasive measures. They'll probably have to start wrapping the President's teleprompter in some sort of plastic wrap.

Actually when you consider the absurd accusations politicans hurl at one another, it would be less offensive if they were just hurling at one another. Watch closely in the future and see if Sean Hannity doesn't have little bottles of Ipecac available for his guests.

But, once you get beyond the regurgitation, there's something else that's been bothering me about this whole event. Here's my thinking...the father and mother are pretty darn fortunate that it was just their kid that could have gotten in the balloon and not the family pet.

If a dog had been endangered, you can bet your life that that couple would have their showboating butts in jail. Every animal rights group in the country would have been up in arms.

But thankfully it was just a child. And, really what's so bad about a runaway balloon that can climb to 10,000 feet and, evidently, carry a child along. It's not like the father left the keys in the pickup, or left the gun cabinet open. Really, let's be honest. Haven't we all left our spacecraft loosely tethered to the barn door once in awhile. It happens. Big deal.

Of course, it can't be overlooked that the boy is, from everything I can see, a bratty, obnoxious kid. When you first hear that a child may be floating wildly through the atmosphere, you immediately feel shock and sadness. I guess it's not human nature to allow yourself to think that there are some kids whom you'd like to see lost in space. Or, am I just too jaded?

I hear the dad has been pitching a reality show to the networks. Here's an idea for him, and I'll give it to him free of charge. How about a series entitled Parent Gone Stupid? Must see TV, if you ask me.