POST 4TH FIREWORKS

Sitting here, typing this entry while the fevered screaming strains of CNN are echoing in the background. The Cable News Network is busily screeching about the lack of significance of Christie Brinkley’s divorce case - for several minutes. This is news. NEWS?

Last evening, The oldest LOST son and I sat watching some game show called “Duel” two people answering “general knowledge” trivia questions on a timed basis for increasing amounts of money. Both contestants knew what color suit Michael Jackson wore on the cover of “Thriller,” but neither knew what war’s battle served as the inspiration for Francis Scott Key’s poem which became the National Anthem. Each was off by a century.

Switch to the local newspaper. The vocal masses in the majority party here in town are all sidling up to the President’s siren song of drill offshore as a the cure all for our petro-dependency. It doesn’t matter that oil from a single tanker rupture is still being cleaned off of shoreline and wildlife in Prince William Sound 20 years after the Exxon Valdez had its little mishap. It doesn’t matter that California is seismic ground zero in this country. It doesn’t matter that the oil recoverable offshore would not begin to even hit the global market and supply for at least 5 more years. Its as if Bush said, it, they believe it, and that settles it. Oh, and one more chance to slap “treehuggers” and “Al Gore” a couple of times. The creeping current of stupidity is nearing knee level of the populace. With enough beers, stupid reality shows and super triple double deep fried sandwiches, the permanent underclass will be cemented into place by the weight of its own inertia and indifference.