Good Morning, Everyone. After a week of high humidity and 90+ temps we are getting a nice break. Temps in the 70s and low 80s for this week. We were supposed to have rain all day today but that has changed and it will be mostly sunny. We had to put the air on last week however much we hated doing so. The cats hated it even more since they had to stay inside.

I haven't had much to say so I simply haven't said anything. What can you say about politics when it is just the same old rigamarole? One side proposes and the other side simply stonewalls. Polls tell us that Americans favor a public option health plan by a wide margin but the Republicans simply bleat 'Communism!!!' and dig in their heels while President Obama's administration waffles on the matter. Illinois politicians are still trying to work out a budget compromise but getting nowhere fast. All of them are looking to next year's elections and trying to avoid doing anything that will alienate anyone. Evidently, Indiana politicians are having trouble with their budget but I don't have any details. We get most of our news from Chicago outlets which, naturally, don't carry much from downstate Indiana.

Has everyone heard that there is a really big generation gap? The biggest since the '60s apparently. I checked into the story on MSNBC this morning. I am afraid they ticked me off to start with. The first set of numbers (covering religion) cites three age groups: 19-29, 30-49, and over 65. There are a whole lot of people missing there. Did you notice. I did. I guess those of us between 49 and 65 don't count a whole lot. A large part of the story covered young people's perceptions of what will happen when they grow older and older people's reports of what they have experienced. No discussion of course of the implications of those attitudes. Meaningless 'facts' dissociated from context.

Is anyone else tired of the 'coverage' of Michael Jackson's death? I certainly am. I am sorry he is dead but I don't want to know all of the gory details or any of the manufactured controversy. And I resent how it has driven useful news out of the picture. Instead of covering the energy bill (that just passed the House and is going to the Senate) or the proposals for health care reform, or any of the numerous stories that we should really know something about, the news media covers this exhaustively. And we let them get away with it.