Thinks on a Thursday

Reality is the #1 cause of insanity among those who are in contact with it.

Unknown

I am a wonk. I was raised in an atmosphere that considered politics a normal occupation of one's thoughts. I listen to Air America Radio while I'm in the barn. I read The Huffington Post & The Daily Kos. I have a habit of watching Hardball while I prepare dinner. I usually catch Keith Olberman & Rachel Maddow as well. I'm occupied with other things while these shows are playing in the background, but I can do more than one thing at a time.

I am saturated with information. And, I am very, very nervous about our condition. So, last night I tried to have Wheel of Fortune on as I went about the task of preparing food for our consumption. If I was not already half crazy, I am now. How long has this thing been on the air and why? It's really no wonder we got to where we are when this sort of mindless drivel is what occupies people's attention. 

Later that evening I got part of my sanity back. The Daily Show. Perhaps there is a god after all. 

I think I am better off in the lounge listening to the piano as the Titanic goes down. Standing on the bow watching as we sail into the iceberg is not helpful, not when there isn't a thing you can do about it. But my natural inclination is to look. I can't help myself, I've got to see. 

My fault is I'm an old sixties radical who didn't fall in love with the Good Time Charlies who spread the doctrine of greed and so-called individualism. The lie of a Free Market & Free Trade. The misguided and misleading notion that if we willingly concentrate the wealth at the top it will benefit the rest of us. I am a student of history and I knew better. It didn't do me any good in the end, because people like me were relegated to the corner and told to stay there. We get punished the same as those who told us to shut up.

I think a fitting sentence for the Wall Street thugs and the Bush collaborators would be an eternity of endless loops of Wheel of Fortune.