Memorial Day

No tv today. I could not bear the sight or sound of our AWOL war criminal praising our military while at the same time sending them to Iraq for no purpose other than satisfying his ridiculously oversized ego. Everyone knows nothing will be accomplished by September that is going to make any difference whatsoever in this ongoing disaster that is Iraq. Republicans know it, Democrats know it, the public knows it, and I'll bet that even Bush and Cheney know it. They are just stalling for time, hoping to force Iraq to sign over its oil, waiting to turn their horrible mess over to the next President. In the meanwhile our troops continue to die on a daily basis. This is not merely politics, it is murder. I can only take hypocrisy up to a point. That point has been exceeded a thousandfold by this rotten-to-the-core Bush/Cheney administration. Continuing in Iraq is sheer insanity. Tell the truth, what in the hell can possibly turn things around in Iraq? I don't know about you, but I don't believe in miracles. I don't even believe Noah built an ark or Jonah was swallowed by a whale. And I don't believe even one word that comes out of the mouths of Bush or Cheney.

I have just finished the most incredible and fascinating book - A Perfect Red, by Amy Butler Greenfield. I guess it was so fascinating to me because it was about something I knew nothing about. I never knew anything about dyes, the dyeing industry, cloth, or the importance of colors, especially red. This book, a history of such things, has everything you can imagine: greed, intrique, spying, theft, Empire, exploration, adventure, the works. I certainly never heard of cochineal, a little bug that caused such a sensation when it was first discovered by European dye makers. If it had been up to me this would have been one of the best books of 2005.

It has been cold and rainy for two days. Tomorrow it is supposed to go up into the seventies. By saturday it is supposed to be in the ninetys! The weather in North Idaho is as peculiar as the population.