boring ollie north down in the subway dealing drugs and guns...
turning little liars into heroes, it's what they've always done.

I have hesitated to say anything about the election, mostly because other people are saying so much. (There are a lot of bad examples; here is one that I liked.) Instead I have put my energies into other pursuits, like cleaning out the guest room closet. In one box I came across a bunch of college memorabilia collected (and then returned, without ceremony, I might add) by my parents. Included was a bunch of intact copies of my college newspaper circa summer 1989, when I was working on the copy desk.

Most of the stories have lost their familiarity at last, but taken together, the headlines alone are instructive. Sure, it's the 21st century, but what did we have 15 years ago? Hostages in the Middle East. Another Bush, whose meaningless cultural wedge du jour was flag burning. Oliver North, before his talk show reconstitution. There was Gorbachev, true, but there was still the Berlin Wall.

Does this reassure me about the current state of the world? Not really. But we'll always have The Mekons.

and you know that people are really rather afraid,
afraid of being swamped.
afraid of being swamped by selfishness and greed.