Any News is Bad News

You’ll have to pardon me – my level of tolerance and wit is WAY WAY down as I face the many curve-balls life has been throwing lately. My bank account balance being the most amusing one I can think of off the top of my head.

Perhaps it is a symptom of being too well-informed, but here are some things really kicking my mental ass straight from the headlines:

- Flooding in the Mid-Land. What this means? Further crippling of the world-wide food shortage. $1.5 billion in repairs. Tens/hundreds of thousands of people displaced. The Red Cross is operating on a ZERO BUDGET and Bush can’t be persuaded to do much until later this week. He’s too busy with…

- Offshore Drilling Legislation. It always boggles my mind how people will do ANYTHING not to have to make a change. Instead of using time/resources to develop alternative energy sources, we will bleed the well fucking DRY to avoid the inevitable. Will this lower gas prices? Sure, for a time. Except – it will take 10 FUCKING YEARS to build the infrastructure. Of course – Bush is blaming it on the Democrats. Again. Cause that makes sense.

Will it lower gas prices back down to a reasonable level? Maybe. Probably not. The future is now – in a year $4.00 will seem like a distant dream. But no one seems to care…certainly not our Commander in Chief. Our Congress. Our Senate. What the fuck are these yahoos doing? While the American people are suffering through the worst economic crisis we’ve faced in 20 years? Not much. No legislation seems to be getting through. Mark my words – it will be ANWR next. At this point – who cares? If we go to hell in a hand basket, we’ve no one to blame but ourselves for preferring immediate gratification over long term and sustainable infrastructure.

- ALMOST 300 Reported Cases of Tomato Salmonella Poisoning. OK – no one is dying, right? Not a huge deal – just affecting 29 states and hundreds of people, only 43 of which have been hospitalized. But it is a source of frustration that in a time of world wide food crisis, we can’t even depend on our Food to Be Safe. We need enough of it, and we need it to be safe. Not too difficult a task, right? Wrong. Food Safety is huge. If I’m paying 8 dollars for some fucking tomatoes, they better be safe (I exaggerate the price, mostly).

- HELLO JOB CUTS. Not only is this horrid news in these shite economic times, but coming fast on the heels of this article about Executive/CEO salaries…it just seems like we’re living in bizarro world here. Please – tell me if I’m wrong. I’d love to be wrong.

- Bomb Bomb Iran. The United States is eeking closer to renewing it’s dependency on nuclear energy. France already loves the shit out of nuclear power. But Iran, in the final stages of enacting it’s own energy policies, is facing the frightened squealing of the West, who are insistent that this power will be harnessed to make a bomb – and “de-stabilize the region.” Ooookay. Did anyone tell them that Nuclear Power itself is incredibly unstable? Guess not. And, sorry, but so the fuck what if Iran has nukes? We have MORE of them. If they blew one of our major cities up, we could level the entire Middle East in the push of a button. Frankly, with the state of the world…I would say we are all about due for an Apocalypse anyways.

I hate to end it like that. And there is more, there is always more. But lately, it just seems like shit piled ontop of shit. I guess I can take a bit of comfort in the Habeas Corpus ruling…but considering that it’s taken 6 years to extend these poor bastards basic human rights, I mean, how sad is that? It’s so pathetic it’s also depressing. Don’t get me wrong – it’s great news. But compared to what these folks have endured for years…it further confirms that our country is in horrid shape right now.

Ok – I’m done. I relent. Please, for the love of God, enjoy your afternoon.

Much Love, Mindy C