The News For...Laughs

The news has become almost my favorite form of humorous entertainment. Like tonight, when everyone in Libya was celebrating the end of the Gaddafi rule. There was a great deal of chatter about freedom and democracy and the rebel forces. Maybe you have heard it here before, but who the hell are the rebels? Who has been funding them – not bombing them? Do they like the U.S.? What is their definition of freedom or democracy? How do they transition from horrific human rights abuses, to God Bless whatever? So, I don’t know about you, but it makes me laugh til I can’t breathe.

This morning someone on Morning Joe, (and it’s hard to tell which middle aged white male – because they all talk at once and look and sound pretty much the same), asked who was going to pay the cost of this immaculate reconception. No one had answer. Of course they didn’t. Talking heads have no idea how things actually work—kind of like the President of the United States. And I mean that in the nicest possible way.

Is it me? Or is anyone else disturbed by the ignorance about what is actually going on over there. “Over there, Over there, send the word that they heard over there. The Yanks (that’s what we used to be called), are coming. The Yanks are coming…..” We are always coming. Every time I think about the wars and the economy I remember the Roman Empire and the British Empire – a little over extended and full of themselves perhaps. Are we at the “woe is us” stage? Well, the stock market went up 300 points. I’ll give that a big so what. The President is going to present the nation with a jobs plan –after he finishes his golf vacation. And the people are all thoroughly depressed – unless you are rich. Now there’s an answer to all our prayers. Let’s all get rich! But in my head all I can hear is Martin Sheen in the film “Gandhi”, when he’s on the phone reporting about the British massacre of the Indians protesting about the control of salt. In quite a moving conversation describing the brutality he says, “and still it goes on and on….” That how I feel about most unsettled things in the government. As my wise Grandfather would have said on Passover, Dayainu dayainu. Which means, enough! Enough!

That’s not what I wanted to blob about but let’s face it, it is hard to focus on anything when the world as we know it, seems to be coming to an end. We were thinking of moving to Italy but all of Western Europe is in trouble. At least in Italy you could drink enough wine not to notice. Asia, is in trouble, not that I want to fly for 24 hours and wind up in China – but Australia might work. And there is always Venezuela, which thanks to oil, and a wacky leader, is doing “just fine.” Fine is a relative term, but … Hey, so is Texas, and I don’t want to go there either. And speaking of oil, the price has gone down but not at the pumps. We will never again be below $3.50 a gallon…. and that is an optimistic guess.

I’d like to be the old cheery me, but it’s not easy being me. So, with all this in mind, let’s remember the famous words of that famous philosopher, Raffi. And sing along, “Sun, Sun, Mr. Golden Sun….. please shine down on me.” We’re just sayin’… Iris