Thoughts for Today...

Beavis is on Spring Break this week, which means I've been working half days and hanging out with him in the afternoons. Because I have to shove a lot of work into a shortened day, not a lot of blogging or playing around on the Internet has gotten done. So please excuse the lack of posts...normal service will resume next week.

But I did want to log on and share some good reading material: Garrison Keillor's Homegrown Democrat is a fantastic read. If you're looking for "a few plain thoughts from the heart of America," this is the book for you. Written with characteristic Keillor wit, this book will have you laughing, crying, and vowing to never, ever vote Republican.

Check out Keillor's thoughts on the state of religion in America:

"Better to be a principled atheist than a Christian for show. A man who employs the Lord as a special effect and makes a public performance of piety deadens his spiritual life and puts his own soul in danger."

And: "America is not a religious country, no matter how many Americans say they believe in God. I've been in religious countries and this is not one of them. There is no Sabbath, no fasting or prohibitions, every day is a feast day. You can buy liquor on Sunday almost anywhere, find pornography in any Marriott or Wal-Mart, say any ugly, profane thing on the radio or anywhere--we're fat and sloppy and as disciplined as a battalion of cats, an impulsive, dreamy people walking around eating ice cream cones and eyeballing the girls' sweaters and dreaming of a big hit in the lottery. If God is looking for a nation to carry out His will on earth, it isn't this one."

That's pretty much the whole tone of the book, with Keillor nostalgic for better times yet still happy and proud to be the kind of American who is a Democrat. Check it out if you need a good read that wasn't written by Michael Moore or Noam Chomsky.

Still to come: an update on the "Very Berry" sweater that has been moved to the "R.I.P." section of this blog, and a review of the Yarn Harlot's new book...which, after MONTHS of impatient waiting on my behalf, finally landed in the mailbox yesterday afternoon.