I nearly always feel like responding to Frank Rich's column in the Sunday Times. I'm not sure why, since I nearly always agree with him. I suppose it's because he provokes thought. This week he writes about "box-office dread" - continuing failure of movies and TV shows about the Iraq war. The apparent lack of interest of the general populace is not due to lack of concern. The public has already weighed the Iraq war and rejected it. Almost no one is on the fence about this, or even curious. We all just want it to go away, but we know this won't happen until George Bush is out of office. Mr. Rich's final sentence perfectly sums up the situation, "Unable to even look at the fiasco anymore, the nation is now just waiting for someone to administer the last rites."
Maureen Dowd seems to believe Barack Obama's nomination is almost an inevitability. I truly hope she is right. I have wondered why, when Hillary is answering the red phone in the White House at 3 a.m., she is fully dressed and wearing make-up. Shouldn't she be in pajamas, with rumpled hair?
The selection from "Opinion Online" from Olivia Judson, "A Mutual Affair," about the mutually protective behavior of the goby and the shrimp, is very interesting. As a single item, I think mutualism is fascinating, but I know I wouldn't read an entire book about it. I am aware of my deplorable habit of behaving as if buying non fiction books is the same as reading them. Learning through osmosis, the mental image of a book under a pillow. Why isn't there a head on the pillow? It is very hard to remember details I think I should learn from reading. I don't think it is age. I've always had a pretty vague mind. 1066 and 1492 are the only dates I've truly absorbed. This is one reason blogging will be useful, as a personal archive and bibliography.
