If you aren’t checking out Josh’s Talking Points Memo, you really should be. He cites a Washington Post article that reveals the President has spent approximately 40% of his time in office on vacation, working or otherwise. This figure in and of itself doesn’t mean anything. Time away from the White House doesn’t necessarily equate with goof-off time. But it is interesting to note that Bush is going on vacation just as the situation in Iraq is deteriorating at an alarming rate.
Meanwhile, in some forgotten land in possession of actual weapons of mass destruction, nuclear brinkmanship is being played. North Korea probably doesn’t pose an imminent threat, but it’s disconcerting that this story has fallen off the radar of the American media.
Passover somehow slipped past me this year. I have a couple Jewish friends who try to bring me back into the fold by inviting me to their respective seders, but we didn’t connect this year. Of course, according to the Orthodox and Conservative branches of Judaism, I was never really in the fold. My mom isn’t Jewish, so the rulebook says neither am I. Of all the religious holidays I don’t observe, I have a special fondness for Passover. You can interpret the story of Moses leading the Hebrews out of Egypt as a strong commentary on social justice and our obligation to each other as human beings to strive for a world where noone is bound by political, economic, or religious shackles. Whatever your belief or lack thereof, that’s something worth remembering.
