Ranting at 5

That’s better. Slide that window open and feel the breeze. It’s the best part of spring, summer and fall. Winter? Bah! I love fresh air, except for the occasional times when the wind reminds us that we do live in the country…next to a small herd of cows. And that’s not happening this morning.

We were out with the Monday night diner’s crowd last night and I was reminded once again that few people, very few, bother to know what’s happening in the world. Their world begins and ends on the fringes of the Planet Orland. I can’t really pick on Orland, it seems to be everywhere. Real news; the full story and beyond the headlines, takes some effort to discover and because of that it is generally ignored. It’s a shame, because what happens in Myanmar really does affect us. And in Tajikistan. Zimbabwe. Abu Dhabi. Far too many of us watch the 6 o’clock news and then half an hour of the History channel and call that good enough.

What brought on that rant? Last night, except for one, no one else had heard about the food crisis in the world. No one knew that rice and wheat are in short supply beyond our borders and in the third world. They were amazed to hear that Wal*Mart was limiting sales of rice…right here in this county! What?

With this all too obvious lack of knowledge, why do we allow these people to vote? Shouldn’t there be a test? You have to take a test to drive! But that would be undemocratic of course and so we will end up with a president that was elected because of how the candidate measured up by those things that the ‘talking heads’ of the 6 o’clock news deemed important. Flag lapel pin? Check!

Excuse me, I have to go stick my head back in the sand.