Off Again

I'm counting my blessings this morning, Bush. I have the great good fortune to be taking off in an hour or so for a few days in Santa Fe, leaving you behind in a sea of troubles---some of which you have frankly brought upon yourself. They're almost everywhere you look these days. I mean, there's not only your evil threesome, Iraq, Iran, and North Korea in stages of more or less acute crisis; there's also "old Europe", seething with generally uncooperative dislike for the US; there's the Russian bear, also not well-disposed; there's Somalia, the new haven for Muslim extremism and a likely spot for training and recruitment; and all those other African nations where citizens are dying of needless hunger and disease, or killing each other in their un-civil wars; there's uncertainty and unrest to the south of us, with Mexico's election result up in the air, and countries in Central and South America co-existing with us in this hemisphere in various stages of mistrust; there's giant China, emerging from the shadows and voraciously buying up our debt; India and Pakistan, with their nuclear weapons, their internicine hatreds, and their massive populations; and tiny Sri Lanka, still internally at war... And evil dictators everywhere.

Oh, and there's the Earth herself in full rebellion. Heat waves, hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, volcanos...

Well, it seems like I'm not counting your problems, not my blessings, Bush. Still, I guess it's a way of counting my blessings: I don't have to deal with any of them. You do. I get to go to Santa Fe for a few days of relaxation and interesting mind-work. I'll be checking in on Site Santa Fe, the art festival there, along with other aspects of the art scene. And going to the opera. I don't envy you, Bush. What a weight you have to bear.