Fascinating book

I have just finished a truly fascinating book: The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson. This is the story of the 1893 Chicago World's Fair, its planning, execution, success, and enormous impact it made on the United States. Simultaneously, it is the story of one of the worse serial killers in history. A true psychopathological killer who premeditated the murders of an unkown number of people, mostly women, who were attracted to Chicago mostly by the Fair. I have no idea how Larson came up with the idea of juxtaposing these two stories but the result is one of those rare books that you do not want to put down once you have begun. Although I confess I had never thought much about it, I was amazed to learn just how difficult and complex a task it was to plan and construct such a Fair. The success of this almost impossible project put Chicago on the map as one of the world's great cities and many of the things we now take for granted first appeared at this great event. Among other things it made it clear that cities could be much more than the gloomy, filthy, disease-ridden Chicago of the late 1800's.

Well, as predicted, the House voted not to support Bush's surge. It was a victory mostly on partisan lines as a mere 17 Republicans voted for it (there had been predictions of many more). I didn't watch much of it but of course I saw a few excerpts on the news. About 350 of the 400 plus House members felt strongly enough about it to exercise their right to their five minutes. Listening to some of the Republicans who spoke out against it, I began to wonder if they and I were from the same planet, or if we had been exposed to the same information. For example, some of them kept claiming that we could not stop in Iraq until we achieved "victory." Of course they didn't mention what they thought victory would look like. And they seemed to be unaware there would be no victory no matter how long we stayed in Iraq or how many troops we sent there. They seem to be unable to grasp even this basic reality - there is not going to be any victory. There was no time for anyone to really ask just what it was they meant by victory. Perhaps some of them think we are still going to create an American style democracy in that unfortunate country. Maybe some thought we could obtain "stability." They were apparently not considering the latest goal - "relative peace." Then there were those who kept insisting that if we didn't finish the job in Iraq the terrorists (insurgents?) would follow us here. Can't you see them jumping into their ships and aircraft, loading their tanks and howitzers, and invading the U.S? The Muslims are coming! The Muslims are coming! They are going to replace "In God we Trust" with Mohammed is great, and etc. Don't you wonder where we even find such complete idiots? They certainly don't all come from Idaho although we do our part. I confess when I have to listen to some of these Republicans I truly wonder if they are actually sane (maybe it's just the kool-aid).

Bush/Cheney continue to prove they have little or no grasp of reality. Rove has been very quiet of late. Condi is off on another trip, chasing her tail. Democrats talk tough but as yet do very little. Republicans continue to put party above country, Anna Nicole Smith remains unembalmed and her daughter remains without a father. No one can figure out if Obama is black or white, American Idol goes on (I guess), GM and Ford continue to lay off thousands, but the rich get richer every day and the stock market continues to rise. Life, I guess, just goes on. Why worry? Be happy (like me).