Fast Food Nation

Bill, you should have backed off the Big Macs a long time ago. These days, a quadruple bypass is about as routine as a root canal and I have no doubt that Clinton will be on his feet in a couple weeks, giving interviews and signing books. Ten bucks says that the paperback edition of his book will have a whole new chapter about his brush with mortality.
Like most people, I’m absolutely horrified by the mounting death toll at the school in Russia. The Russians don’t seem to have a good track record in resolving hostage standoffs. Are their cops that incompetent or are the Chechens that bloodthirsty? It’s hard to tell from this side of the world. Even after 9-11, I think most Americans have a hard time comprehending a way of life under constant threat from bombings and other acts of violence. If things like this were happening on an even semi-regular basis in the US, we would see a wave of mass paranoia sweep the country. Our geographic isolation has a lot to do with our (sometimes false) sense of security. In other parts of the world, bloody conflicts with one’s neighbors are a fact of life. Here, we think of our neighbors as vacation spots, if we think of them at all.
I managed to go the entire week without watching one second of the RNC. Of course, sometimes you have to put politics aside out of business necessity. Go read Alexa’s blog and see what I mean. Alexa is a New York blogger who may get herself a book deal if she keeps at it.