I'll Be Back After This Non-Commercial Break.

As I sit here listening to Curtis Mayfield, wondering what to write, I realize that at this particular moment I have no will to turn the sharpening stone and grind my axe. I've got a cup of coffee, a well-travelled copy of Moby Dick that I've been whittling away at, and a road trip to Buffalo on the horizon. All told, despite the maelstrom swirling about us politically, economically and socially, I'm good.

I could very easily start dealing on the Bush oligarchy about the recent revelations of systematic and sanctioned torture in the "War on Terror," their weak dollar policy, or their insistence on extending the use methyl bromide pesticides in the United States which do great damage to the ozone layer. Not today though. It's just not happening.

In spite of my conscience, I'm shutting the blast furnace down and taking the week off. I'm going home to sit around with my family, stay out too late with my friends, and walk around aimlessly in the woods. Sure, I'll still be thinking about these things, but with more contemplation and less bombast. Rather than be angry and frustrated, I am going to try and just be.