Cold Turkey on Current Events

I haven't been following current events at all lately. I had become a bit obsessive about them, and decided that I was not able to take them in moderation. As a result, I have not been visiting my regular circle of blog friends, and have been focusing on the wide sweep of things more. The places at which I have been a regular commenter, such as GM Roper's, Maggie's Farm, Willisms, Joust The Facts, and No Oil For Pacifists, I have neglected. Those sites include thought-pieces of a more general nature which I am sure I would find gratifying, but they also include observations on the events of the day - a temptation beyond my reach at present. It was even hard to avert my gaze when I went to their sites to capture the url's for the links above.

I should at least drop them a note, I suppose, so that they don't wonder that they have offended in some way.

Nonetheless, I suspect I am up on the news anyway. Large events would have broken through so that people would have to mention them to me in other contexts, and all I hear about are the dangerous fires in San Diego. The smaller events are rather predictable.

1. Hillary Clinton has another fundraising scandal which is being buried.
2. John Edwards has done something which reveals him as an elitist posing as a populist.
3. Barack Obama has said many inspiring things, interspersed with slips of jaw-dropping stupidity.
4. Because of the above, discouraged Democrats are wishing that someone else, like Al Gore, would run.
5. The war must be going well, because I haven't heard anything about it. Both civilian and military deaths are trending down, except for Al Qaeda attacks on softer and softer targets.
6. The economy in general must be going well, because no one's mentioning it as a whole. Individual problems and weaknesses, which we will always have among us, are being overemphasized.
7. There has been new information which undermines belief in climate-change catastrophe. If it is large enough, it is being discredited. Small enough, it is being ignored. (I say that as a person who believes that AGW is real, but not a catastrophe).
8. Polls: Giuliani leads, Romney is focusing on NH and Iowa but is otherwise tied with McCain and Thomson, and one of the second-tier candidates, most likely Huckabee, is showing improvement. Bush's popularity must be rising, because I'm not hearing about it.

When I test the waters of my regular sites again, I will likely start with Tigerhawk and Neo-neocon, which have a higher posting ratio of long-term to short-term focus.