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Another Sunday

A short walk up the hill this morning to get some fresh bagels, orange and concord grape juice, after which I roused the family to the smell of bacon and eggs. A pleasant start to a sunny Sunday which will, as always, disappear too quickly.

I gave some thought to writing something about 9/11 on yet another anniversary, but aside from continuing to be appalled by how it's been exploited almost daily to keep this administration and its policies afloat I have nothing to say.

Similarly, while were I sitting down with any of you and having a conversation I'd likely roll on about the lessons of hurricane Katrina, the matter still sickens me.

Part of my Sunday morning routine is to listen to NPR programming on WHYY. When it hits noon, we get our first taste of the week's episode of This American Life (it's repeated here Wednesday night at 10), which the people of Chicago get on Friday night.

I almost always enjoy this show from start to finish, considering it to be something of a national cultural treasure. The archives on their site are a wonderful resource for both entertainment and provoking thought, and many hours could be spent listening to the variously themed shows online.

This week's show is particularly worthwhile, as it looks at the situation in and around New Orleans. Even just the first five minutes is invaluable in focusing on how the defenders of this administration and the GOP agenda in general (including fetid windbag Rush Limbaugh) have made a major talking point of saying this was a failure of state and local officials. Host Ira Glass frames it quickly and properly by asking who was officially in charge, and finding the answer in it being the federal level from the moment when the president declared it a national disaster. The show is a worthwhile hour spent as it recounts the situation through interviews of people who lived through it . It won't be archived for free access for another week, but if you go to their site you can click on the "Where to listen?" line, put in your state abbreviation and track down a station and time. I intend to catch it again either Wednesday night or once it's archived.

Okay... time to try to enjoy the remainder of the day.

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