Back online, what's the deal with...

After a two week visit with my family in the Philadelphia area, I'm back home and online again. This was my first visit back to the US in about a year and I now am wondering if the American flag-ribbon that says "Support The Troops" is a standard issue for all SUVs. Gee, I thought that since we are a nation at war and the Prez talks about sacrifice I might actually see a little but apparently not. Somehow the ribbon-sticker that says "I volunteered to send my son/daughter/grandchild/self/etc. to Iraq" just never made it. I guess as long as it's someone elses kid it's all OK.

What's the deal with all of the advertisements both in magazines and TV for pharmaceuticals? It seems like they have way too much money to be spending.

The media really was gentle on the administration after the tsumani disastor and helped promote the "Bush may be cheap but corporate America is taking care of it" line. I couldn't stop laughing with one article that talked about corporate America pitching in and then it proceded to include a few European businesses in that list of "US" companies. Funny how it was only US businesses that were pitching in. Rah, rah...Go USA! We're #1!

Thankfully my father did not watch Faux News (at least around me) but I did have to suffer through a few evenings of NBC Nightly News. Their Iraq coverage was about what I would have expected from People Magazine...piss poor.

It is impossible to watch TV in the US with all of the TV commercials. Wasn't cable supposed to take care of that?

The Barnes Foundation is excellent. My eight year old neice Kara asked my wife "how come there are so many paintings of naked women?" The answer of course is "because there were so many men who painted." BTW, no, the third grader was not traumatized by the paintings. We all survived.

As noted earlier below, what's the deal with the Eternal Reign Bush Family? I couldn't help but think of this while visiting the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall when the guide talked about the Kings of England who were born into their position. Hmmmmm.