Summer Doldrums

August historically has been the month where "dog days" are prevalent. Hot weather, not much going on, many people on vacation, etc. so that the fortnight leading up to Labor Day rarely has contained much excitement and many of us fall into the doldrums. This year, however, August has the Olympics, the Democratic convention and locally 2 Chicago teams possibly heading for a World Series clash (!) among other known events. So instead the doldrums have been moved back to July, which we're right in the middle of. The lack of hard news had been creating a sense of ennui in TNB, until he was rescued by the following:

• Another "I didn't know the mike was on" moment, this time involving the increasingly irrelevant professional camera hog Jesse Jackson. Imagine what the uproar would have been had Jesse suggested that an equally sensitive part of Hillary's anatomy be cut off. Even Bill would have sprung into action (I think). BTW, don't these guys (remember W. talking to Tony Blair over lunch in Germany?) know what an off switch looks like?
• New Yorker magazine reaching not only its normal intellectual readership but becoming popular (OK, just the cover-- nobody is reading it, God forbid) with middle and lower America as well, thanks to its somewhat heavy handed attempt at satirizing the Obama paranoia among many conservative voters. Paranoia might be a code word for something worse, but even TNB doesn't want to go there--yet.
• The usual round of breathless celebrity news. For example, TNB was confused by an Internet headline referring to C-Rod. Yes, he eventually realized that it was Cynthia Rodriguez , wife of baseball superstar Alex (A-Rod) whom she's apparently divorcing for taking kaballah lessons from Madonna (M-Rod??). This name shortening has got to stop. In baseball there's (honestly) Ivan Rodriguez (I-Rod), Frankie Rodriguez (K-Rod) and others. If you don't have a name that can be sliced off (there's Jesse again) for headlines, think of a reverse name change. It'll be worth it.
• Instances of mayhem and/or stupidity that occasionally stand out. Like the Appalachian preacher who was arrested for having 100 venomous snakes in his fundamentalist church because "the Bible told him to do it". Several parishioners have died of snake bite. Is this what they mean by speaking in tongues? As the local sheriff said, you can buy anything (e.g., the snakes) on the Internet except common sense. The latter, of course, is why you read The Normal Blog.