Taking a Break

proof that God loves us
and wants us to be happy

….Ben Franklin



The never ending accusations and curses hurled at the President and his team in the aftermath of Katrina have sunk me into a state of dire funk. After three posts trying to debunk the vile nonsense, I decided to take a break and have some fun.

Right after morning coffee at Starbucks where we heard about Kristin’s opera career and I debated the evolution of species with Dr. Dave (some strange African fish seem to have evolved into a new species according to Dave), I headed down the hill to 24Hr Fitness. It being a Saturday my KRLA buds Prager, Medved and Hewitt are off the air - just when I need them - so I tuned to Pacifica Radio to listen in to some left wing chatter.

To my delight, Explorations in Science hosted by Michio Kaku, one of the founders of String Theory and a physics professor at CUNY, was playing. His guest was Chris Mooney author of the new book The Republican War on Science. Just what I needed!

Kaku: Tell us, Chris, about some of the Bush administration’s atrocities in their war on science.

Mooney: There’s just so much... global warming, stem cell research, abstinence education, global warming, environmental destruction, the war on condoms and evolution, global warming, teaching Intelligent Design, … Did I say global warming? The bastards!

Next was an interview with UVA law prof and pundit Rosa Brooks about the media coverage of the New Orleans flood. Rosa was delighted that the TV guys and gals were showing some emotion in their coverage. “We must maintain the outrage.”

For the first time, she said, those reporters were seeing how the poor actually live. Hello… no food, no water, nowhere to live or poop, no wonder they seem so defeated all the time. We owe them better than this! It seems that the reporters had come to the conclusion that refugee existence was about the normal life in the NOLA ghettos. But hold it right there: Those people are Americans, how dare you call them refugees.

I turned off the Sony, finished my workout, took a shower and then headed for the used book sale at the library. For $16 I bought hard cover editions of The Five People You Meet in Heaven (Mitch Albom), Men in Black (Mark Levin), The Book of Virtues (William Bennett) and John Adams (David McCullough).

Buying books on the cheap always makes me feel good.