No News is Good News.....

I have a problem because FOX News is on the TV at my house much of the day and I am thinking of giving up the news. WHY?! You gasp..... because it is so sad and depressing and I have no control over any of it. As I am typing this they are talking about the meat cleaver case...they said the guy has mental problems! No duh!!? I just wish I could hear something I don't already know. Same goes with the political blather. I rarely hear anything that is surprising. I told someone in 2005...after hearing a speech by Barak Obama...(the dude has charisma and sounds sooo positive!!)....that he would probably be the democratic nominee for president and possibly even our next president. I am not 100% sure that he will be THIS time around, but knowing the shallowness of the American public (Paris Hilton had her own tv show....so don't argue with me about that!), he seems to fit perfectly. He is probably a great guy, I just don't want him for Pres. as I have said before. Anyway, my point is, that I rarely see anything that surprises me so why do I watch? I am always telling my son Josh he needs to watch the news and he tells me he doesn't need to because he checks the news on his computer and reads those stories he is interested in and the rest he ignores. He watches tv, but he watches shows on the History channel and Discovery. It might just be the best idea after all. Jim gets himself all lathered up everytime he hears Joe Biden, Ted Kennedy, Al Sharpton, Barney Frank....I could list a long line of liberal politicians. Frankly, the whole scene is so predictable....what they people on the tv are going to say and what Jim will bark back at the tv set. I am bored. If I were just to listen to the nightly round table with Britt Hume, Fred Barnes, Morten Kondrake, Maura Liasan, and my favorite, Charles Krauthammer it ought to get it for me and a half an hour of local Monroe news. I have grown tired of Bill O'Reilly and even the never quiet, Sean Hannity (I do like Sean tho) can get on my last nerve. Much of it seems so redundant. I am wondering if this is just a mood or a passing whim. I know one thing for sure, I never want to hear anything more about the evil Vandersloot kid again. It is too disturbing to think there is such careless disregard for life out there in the world. It is this sort of news that is so hard on people. We hear it, but then it goes on and on and on and it makes me feel helpless and fearful. Can that be good?

Jim is on the floor playing with Sophie. She is a fetcher. He is laughing and she is running and sliding. He really does like her, he is just weary of the puppy business he deals with all day when I am at school. On Saturday and Sunday I take over some of the load so he enjoys being the noncustodial parent for a few hours. A few minutes ago I caught her lying on a rug by the door. I wondered if it was her way of saying she needed to go out...so I took her outside and we were successufl on both fronts. She needs to get more vocal so I know what she is thinking. I feel this way in dealing with some people. I try to figure out what they are thinking by looking at their body language cuz they are so stingy with their words. I think a lot of body language is as subtle as Sophie's so if we were as attentive to other people's body language as our dogs' we might understand each other better. Just a thought.

We saw the Boersmas for a couple hours today and again we are struck with their demonstration of strength and grace under pressure...mixed in with courage. I am not saying there are never moments of saddness, but it is not the predominant mood. It is very difficult any way you slice it. ...so again, I am asking for you to remember Dr. Dale, Helen and all their family in your prayers. Thanks.