Very sore this morning. Yesterday the dermatologist removed a sebaceous cyst from the top of my scalp. There must be a lot of stitches … I can’t count them yet because the bandage doesn’t come off for another hour … but however many there are, they’re tight, tight, tight. A poor man’s facelift! I’m sporting a Friar Tuck, too. One day this episode will be a distant memory. I hope that day is soon. I hate wearing hats, but I hate frightening women and children even more.
I left my binder of notes in the car when I led the walking tours at the air museum Wednesday. Not that I’ve ever opened the binder during a tour; it was just a crutch and now I’m rid of it. How wonderful it is to have both hands free when you’re talking to a crowd. Why, you can gesture! And point! And other things besides!
Speaking of things to do with your hands, you can also sit on them, and sometimes you should. Rachel Maddow interviewed Representative Barney Frank on her show last night, and Frank fidgeted the whole time. His hands were all over his face, brushing his hair, smoothing his eyebrows, pulling his ears, even picking his nose. The nose picking was disturbing. It made me not like him and I quit listening.
One sees the same guests over and over on cable news. I’m sure the hosts try to book hostile interviewees, and Maddow in particular has had great success with that, but when they want a friendly face they turn to their small stable of favorites. I need a Barney Frank break.
As long as I’m on the media, I’m starting to sour on Jon Stewart. Too many vacations, too predictable a selection of news to comment on and make fun of, too many punches pulled during interviews … I don’t know, maybe it’s just me, but I don’t think he’s rocking the boat like he used to.
On Tuesday I mentioned how angry I was at NPR for going all-politics-all-the-time and ignoring what’s important to normal working people. What set me off was a five-minute Morning Edition segment on the debt extension standoff that was nothing more than a recitation of right-wing talking points.
Well, it turns out that while NPR was busy fluffing the deficit hawks, CBS was actually popping the big question to President Obama: “Can you tell the folks at home that no matter what happens, the Social Security checks are gonna go out on August the third?” Followed by Obama’s already famous answer: “I cannot guarantee that those checks go out on August 3rd if we haven’t resolved this issue. Because there may simply not be the money in the coffers to do it.” Way to go NPR! Let CBS do the heavy lifting.
Now that the potential consequences of failing to act are out there, Congress is finally thinking about the people. Oh, not in terms of what’s good for the people or what’s bad for the people … they could give a shit about that … no, they’re thinking about us in terms of what we’re going to do to them if they pull the financial rug out from under our parents and we have to put the kids in bunk beds so that grandma and grandpa can have their own bedroom.
So they’re busy working on extending the debt ceiling, right? Uh, no … they’re scrambling to make the coming crisis look like it’s Obama’s fault.
Is it any wonder people despise those parasites in Washington DC? Is it any wonder we’d rather watch Ow, My Balls Wipeout than the Evening News?
I don’t know about you, but I need a happy photo to cheer me up. How about some flying dachshunds?
