When you get what you want...

Political chaos is connected with the decay of language... one can probably bring about some improvement by starting at the verbal end. George Orwell

I don't know about yours, but in my neighborhood, when everything goes to hell, we become silent. We're so quiet, even the animals imitate us. You won't hear a peep, a chitter, or a bark from the birds, squirrels, or dogs. The quiet is thick, like a fog.

The day of 9-11, it was the same way. I walked up and down the sidewalks here, and had the sense of weight and waiting, of people hunkered down. When I went to the grocery, hoping to see someone I knew, the few shoppers there moved as though underwater: slowly, ploddingly, as if quick gesture would shatter us all. I remember a gentle conversation with a man holding a can of dog food, but I don't remember what we said.

After the stock market went ::boom:: yesterday, I did what a lot of people probably did. I cruised the Internet like a shark, but what was I looking for? I don't have any stocks, and I don't understand the market. If I was looking for comfort, it was the wrong day for that.

GK Chesterton said that incarcerated burglars should be the happiest men alive, since they'd gotten the only reward their job naturally bestows. Similarly, the Current Occupant, the Neocons, Phil Graham, and the Republican caucus should be singing like larks, since they've gotten exactly the results you'd expect, given their actions.

I can't remember who said, When everything is permitted, nothing is allowed.

Honey, we're there.