Right, there was a presidential innauguration today. I barely noticed. Much bigger news in my world is that my 2-year-old niece fell and broken her leg. This morning, the lovely weather prompted her mother to take her out to the park to play, where she climbed up a ladder on a playset - missed the top run, and fell. She landed on her feet (thank goodness, not her head) but she fractured her right tibia. She's in a lot of pain. Poor kid. Her mother feels like a bad mother. Poor mother.

What's interesting to me, is that this is what I've cared about today, even though I understand there's been wall-to-wall news on the subject. So, seriously - who is it that cares about the innauguration? Hmm. I can't help but answer that question with, "People who have nothing else going on in their lives." I mean yes, Bush starts a new term. Sure, it's good to know that fact. But we pretty much knew how the election turned out already. This shouldn't be a red-letter day for anyone but... I don't know... Bush, his friends and family?

Sure, I think people should be interested in civic duty, but maybe all this fierce hatred in politics these days comes from people trying to use politics to fill empty lives. Personally, I can sure do a lot more about making a 2-year-old happy than about fixing Iraq. I wish the politicos the best, but I'm not going to obsess over their problems. I like having a republic. I help elect the people who will make the decisions. I don't have to make them all myself.

Books: Another three sentences down. This is how it goes.