The weather was rainy and windy today, so the Webner family women decided that pedicures, with toenails pained the colors of the rainbow, was the only answer. Kish went all in for mint green.
Archive for July 20th, 2012
Rainbow Toes
Posted in Family, tagged Family, Pedicures, Toes on July 20, 2012 | 1 Comment »
Failing To Make Sense Of The Senseless
Posted in America, crime, World, tagged America, Aurora Colorado Shootings, crime, Insanity, Jonestown, Mass Killings, Nazi Germany, The Dark Knight Rises, World on July 20, 2012 | 1 Comment »
When something awful happens, like yesterday’s horrific shooting at the midnight screening of The Dark Knight Rises in Aurora, Colorado, our natural tendency is to try to explain how it could have happened.
I can understand this impulse, but I also think such efforts are doomed to failure. Has anyone successfully explained how Nazi Germany or Jonestown could possibly have happened? The unfortunate reality is that there is evil and insanity in the world, and when they come together terrible things can happen. We’ve endured countless mass shootings, stabbings, bombings, and suicides, in this country and in others, by people who are acting out of impulses as disparate as a lust for power, religious zealotry, a desire to be famous, racial and tribal hatred, and a hunger for revenge. Some people just lose their marbles and lose their moral moorings.
This is not a comfortable conclusion, unless you’re a hermit. If you want to participate in society, you just have to grit your teeth and accept the fact that the guy sitting next to you in the movie theater, or the sports stadium, or the school cafeteria, might be one of those people whose existence and outlook can’t be rationally explained.
Bad News, On The Road
Posted in America, Columbus, The Economy, tagged America, Billboards, Columbus, I-70, Indianapolis, The Economy, Trucks, Unemployment on July 20, 2012 | 1 Comment »
Driving from Columbus to Indianapolis yesterday, you could see the signs of America’s ongoing economic struggles, without having to look very hard for them.
It’s a straight shot from Columbus to Indianapolis, on I-70 West. That’s one of our main east-west highways, linking cities like Columbus, Indianapolis, St. Louis, and Denver. When the economy is really cooking, the road is packed with long convoys of semi trucks that can make the drive a real pain. In America’s heartland, trucks are the true wheels of commerce. Yesterday, there was some truck traffic, but not that much — certainly not as much as in boom times.
Another highway-oriented economic indicator is billboards. The number of billboards dotting the I-70 roadway reflects its status as a major transportation artery. Yesterday, many of the billboards were available for lease, which suggests that some companies may have cut back on their advertising budgets or that the businesses that formerly used the billboards have gone under.
From what I saw on my road trip, I’m not surprised by the continuing bad news — like yesterday’s report of higher than expected filings of new joblessness claims.
