A Little Too Close to the Truth

The Onion is frequently very funny (my favorite headline: "Jenna Bush's Wetlands Now Open for Public Drilling") but sometimes they hit the nail squarely on the head, as with this week's top story: BUSH BEGINS PREPARATIONS FOR NATION'S FINAL YEAR.

WASHINGTON—As his last term in office winds to a close, President Bush has directed White House aids and Cabinet staff to begin preparing for 2008, the nation's 232nd and final year in existence ...

The president held a special America Wrap-Up press conference with members of the international press earlier today, where he spoke frankly with reporters and gave out long, heartfelt hugs. Bush also took time from his hectic schedule of staring blankly into the gaping maw of absolute dissolution to reflect on the country's past and look forward to its 281-day future.

"Our great nation will be a shining, then blinking, then slowly fading beacon to the world," Bush said. "As our time as a sovereign country with borders and currency comes to a close, let us hope we will be remembered for all the great things we accomplished, and not for the 1960s."

Read it all here.

When I saw it on the newstand yesterday, I just about lost it. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Oy, these times we're living in.

Glow in the Dark Cats

Why does this idea tickle my fancy so much? Read all about it here.

Twenty Minutes Into the Future

One of the best t.v. programs ever, in my opinion, was Max Headroom, a series that aired very briefly in the mid-eighties. (Are you surprised to hear me saying that I actually liked a t.v. program? For your information, I was also an avid fan of Captain Kangaroo and Pee Wee's Playhouse.) Anyway, Max Headroom was set in a seemingly post-Apocalyptic time, where the world is essentially run by television networks. It always opened with the line "20 minutes into the future ...".

It has been eerie over the past 7 years, to see how much of Max Headroom has come to pass. One episode I recall featured a beautiful televangelist and a scheme to bilk grieving relatives out of their money by making videos of their deceased loved ones, which could speak to them from beyond the grave. Well, this morning I read this.

Weird.