A Political Conversation

The other day I had a long discussion about the government shutdown with a self-described “Tea Party Patriot” who insisted the current problems would be solved by term limits. I couldn’t stop myself from laughing as I asked how long Cruz has been in Congress. I soon discovered he had absolutely no understanding of the concept of gerrymandering. He also insisted that the Affordable Care Act was not valid because Republicans didn’t vote for it even though it passed both Houses of Congress, signed into law by the President, vetted by the Supreme Court and then argued over endlessly throughout a presidential campaign. Maybe the folks who have been spending a lot of money on making it harder for people to vote should focus their efforts on basic civics and the need to educate people on how our democracy works.

The other person started the political conversation and thought he was picking on me. I see him all the time and we usually don’t talk politics. He is very good in his area of expertise which obviously is not civics, democratic values, American history, or compassion for others. The use of the word “patriot” is odd for an anti-government party with members calling for secession and whose actions in Congress are getting perilously close to the definition of sedition. IMHO

Strange Bird

 

Strange Bird by Anna Jansson, 2006

Read in October 2013

A wonderfully suspenseful scientific thriller and murder mystery about a bird flu pandemic creating chaos and panic in Sweden. It was the seventh book in a series about police detective Maria Wern and the first to be translated and published in the US.

There was a good group of well developed characters and a very credible but terrifying story of a pandemic where everybody is getting sick and dying.

I've been reading and enjoying some of the many Scandinavian crime noir novels. I hear this one has been made into a TV series too.