In the documentary, “Fast, Cheap & Out of Control” lion tamer Dave Hoover explains why those in his profession use a chair to keep the lions at bay. It turns out that the cat brain can only focus on one thing in its immediate field of vision, so the four chair legs circling in front of the lion’s eyes put the kitty’s brain into gridlock and thus prevent an attack. This is how I feel about the news these days. I don’t know about you, but I’m totally hypnotized by it all: the Japanese earthquake, tsunami and crippled nuclear reactor, people all over the world rising up in places that never rose up before, the still-flailing U.S. economy, the brand spanking new Tea Party governors going on ape-shit crazy power binges and on and on and on. So last week when our president started a war with Libya I marveled at the absurdity of it all. Wasn’t this the guy who got elected by telling us that we shouldn’t outstretch our military reach? His speech on Monday sounded like vintage George W. Bush minus the Texas accent, mispronounced words and utterances of the word “freedom” every couple of minutes. I think the Obama Doctrine is the same the way many of us attempt to fix our broken TV sets: just keep banging on it until it works. I’m excited about this mug and I think it’s helped to get me out of my catatonic stupor. You can buy it at my online store.
