Sometimes it hurts too much to laugh...

So, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner comes over to the Senate to explain the President's plan to avoid the 'fiscal cliff'. Whereupon, it is reported, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell laughed out loud. Okay, we all occasionally laugh aloud at ridiculous statements. But, like Lincoln and a century later, Adlai Stevenson, I find it too painful to laugh. Unlike those statesmen, I am not too big to cry.

Before November 6, 2012, there was hope in the news as we counted down the days to Obama's departure from office. 1450...1000...500... How the good feelings ever increased, right down to zero! Then came election night. We watched the returns and the sickening reality began to set in. Just as we had in 1996 and in 2008, we watched as Republican strategists lost another presidential campaign.

I am reminded of the story of the fox and the crow. Crow sat on a rock at the edge of the beach, looking at the ocean. Fox approached quietly from behind, slapped Crow on the back and asked "How's it going?" Startled, Crow fluttered out of the way, then turned angrily on Fox, "I was counting the waves and you made me lose count!"

Fox replied, "It's okay, just start over!"

So, now we start over, counting those seemingly endless days. As we do, bad policies erode away our freedoms, the very country we love, just as the surf may have eroded away Crow's beach.  

There is scant hope or joy in today's news, only sadness.