Surely We Have Something Else To Do!

Figures released this week indicated that at the end of March, more than 80,000 people had lost their jobs in this country. While nobody is saying 'recession" out loud, if it looks like crap, smells like crap and (probably) tastes like crap, it must be crap. Political candidates are sparring over an unpopular war and the degree to which our soldiers must remain in Iraq...on and on. (and I won't even mention the latest from Africa or Tibet or China, or...)The book I'm reading even is a downer, in a certain respect. Eric Weiner's The Geography of Bliss has a chapter which deals with the most depressed country on earth, and reading it seriously bummed me out. Amid all this real misery and turmoil, we find time to get all upset about some of the most inane, stupid (according to me)details of life. To wit:
Michelle Malkin (admittedly not a favorite of mine) is all bent out of shape concerning an Absolut vodka ad which appeared in Mexico recently. The ad protrays an "Absolut World" e.g. a perfect one in which Mexican boundaries are set at the 1800's stage, making California and Texas part of Mexico. A big hit south of the border, tha ad had Malkin calling for somebody's head. I mean, REALLY! Aren't other countries allowed to have their little jokes at our expense? Get a grip...go bash Keith Olberman or something.
CNN news has apparently little else to do than cover The Fourth Estate, the student newspaper at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, which reported in its April Fool's issue that Brett Favre was unretiring and returning to the Packers. EVERYBODY gave time to this story, and I was left to wonder where all the real news was on that day.
This was almost as ridiculous ass the national story about the 13-yr. old kid getting attacked by a red-tailed hawk during a tour of Fenway Park in Boston. So what if her name was Alexa Rodriguez, and her friends called her "A-Rod"? This is national news? The way both teams are getting pounded during the early season, it won't be long before NOBODY talks about either team!
It's not just national types that seem to have these kinds of issues. We were gone for three days last week, and a neighbor put a "for sale" sign in our lawn for an April Fool's joke...which, of course, was on him since we were gone. However, we had two phone messages and several emails begging us not to leave the neighborhood! Seriously...don't people work any more?
I guess this is all just a sign of the times: we're trying so hard not to notice the elephant in the room that we focus elsewhere. Me? I'm going to start a polygamist compound somewhere in Texas...nobody will ever notice that.