I’ve tried to find causality, the reasons-why, in all kinds of places. Too much bad news in the news. The tsunami in Japan. American fundamentalists’ growing influence in Congress. My missed-trip to Paris. Too many cancer diagnoses among people I know. One of our dogs keeps on spite-peeing in hard-to-find places. Rolled up together, things large and small have taken their toll on my usually optimistic, though slightly twisted, outlook on life.
On the worst days, I try to hike, get refreshed and focused by the glories of spring in northern California. The end of rainy season brings countless rainbows — and lots of double rainbows! — as well as trails lined with bright green mosses, ferns and stunning, delicate wild flowers. The trail, enjoyed with my friends, usually sets me right for a while.
When things stubbornly remain crappy, there’s the Borowitz Report, Andy’s always clever, amusing and in-the-moment newsy blog. I drop whatever I’m doing when his latest scoop arrives.
Today, Andy spoofed the idiocy of the “birthers,” reporting on antagonistic “balders” who rant that The Donald can’t be President unless he proves his coiffure’s country of origin.
The Borowitz Report never fails to remind me that humor really does make everything — even the worst of things — tolerable. Thanks, Andy! Love you.
Not Quite Blonde 
Meryl, what is an “American fundamentalist”?
If you have to ask, that means …..
Dogmatically-rigid, theocratically-oriented, intolerant… just go down the list of adjectives used to describe “fundamentalists” of other faiths. We’ve got the hard-right, Bible-banging, Creationist types spewing in our midst.
I can’t see how they are different from non-U.S. fundamentalists. We fear or decry off-shore fundamentalists, but have our own crop right here.
Combine the concepts: “American” and “fundamentalist.” Fundamentalists who happen to be fellow citizens. Hmmm. Just change out the adjective, “Muslim” and insert “American.”