Distractions

(" A Summer to Simmer")

The recession that strangles this nation, does not appear ready to loosen its grip. We wake up each morning to the reality of yet one more day in which unemployment is rampant, health care is withheld from an enormous portion of our population while coverage for the rest is woefully inadequate and incomprehensibly complicated, housing foreclosures have blighted entire regions, and the imbalance between those who have and those who don't is monumental and growing larger.

The chasm between the fundamental beliefs of our political parties has stymied any efforts to make meaningful progress on so many fronts, and we remain in constant pain.

In a time such as this, events of the moment serve merely to distract. Recent seismic happenings in the Middle East, North Africa, Japan are of consequence today but only part of the landscape tomorrow. The personal failings of a former governor of California or the former leader of the IMF are just temporary fodder. When we are living under the weight of a population struggling to survive, everything else ultimately seems of little consequence.