Yesterday on the news a reporter interviewed the gun dealer who sold the Glock to Cho. The dealer he was amazed that his Glock was used in the mass killings. Well, duh. What on earth does this gun dealer think people are going to do with Glocks? Take them to tea parties? Isn’t it time to get these guns off the streets?

“Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.” EinsteinIt doesn’t take a genius to recognize this theory at work. Washington DC seems to be filled with the mediocre. And our president is the perfect example of the medicre’s violent opposition. He is opposed to everything that is good and worthwhile. And of course, he is also opposed to doing anything that makes sense.

I was reading an article written by a Republican who was commenting on how the Republicans can win in 2008. He said that all they need is an issue that the people can rally around. There are lots of compelling issues that the country needs to work on: the war, of course (but he says the Reps cannot run on the war again), global warming seems like the likely runner-up (but he ignored that one because the Reps have been anti-enviromentalists since they day they were born), and then there is also that old standby: terrorism. But his choice for the Reps is: IMMIGRATION. Of course it is, because it’s perfect for them. Their mainstay is the politics of fear.  And Immigration policy is tinged with hatred of foreigners — those strangers with odd sounding names and weird accents — now that’s an issue the Reps can rally around. They can work up so much fear that middle Americans will start quaking in their work boots. Unwarranted fears, naturally. Fears that the dreaded terrorists are going to start sneaking into the country disguised as Mexican workers, fears that Mexican workers are going to take over the country, fears that Mexican workers are going to use up all of our tax dollars, fears that Mexican workers are going to take over the country and we’ll all end up having to speak Mexican.

I’m sick! I’ve got a cold, a sore throat and pink eye, of all things. Too much baby sitting, too much close contact with those little germ factories called “babies”. Ah well. Unfortunately for me, this is a relapse cold, one that I’ve had off and on for weeks now. I always assume that colds just run their course and go away after a few days. This one is more stubborn. I’ve tried my usual tactic of just ignoring it, but that’s not working, so I’ve given in to it. I’m in my second day of just loafing around, although today I actually got out of bed and got dressed. A tall order when you are seriously into loafing. Perhaps tomorrow I’ll start to feel better. One can only hope.

I was just looking at my website stats and couldn’t help but notice the continued interest in Hunza Bread. I hope that surfers are not buying that bread recipe. There are free copies all over the net these days. But the larger question remains: do we actually think there’s a “magic” bread recipe out there that will solve all of our diet problems?

Whether the bread has raisins or not, what type of flour it is made of, where the recipe first came from are the continual questions that we get as a result of our Hunza Bread essay. None of that matters. The real issue is with the bread itself. We think of poor, healthy?, people who are reported to live long, long lives, who eat such bread and we immediately think if we eat their bread, we’ll be like them. We do not take into consideration their lifestyle, just the fact that they are skinny and think, voila, if I eat that bread, probably in addition to all the other junk I eat every day, I’ll be just like them. I’m not sure who these fabled “Hunzas” really are, but I imagine Mongol herding people living a hard life on the Siberian steppe, who do not have the advantage of Burger King and a full refrigerator whenever they get hungry. All they might have is a dry crumbling slice of bread, perhaps the only food they eat during the entire day. Now, that’s a diet.

This morning in the San Jose Merc, a blogger posted a question: shouldn’t bloggers always tell the truth, verify sources, and so forth. Huh? Whose truth shall we verify? Which sources are reliable? When are facts really facts? Let’s ask John McCain about that. If it takes 100 soldiers to back up the facts, then they must be facts, right? Hmm.

Bloggers, for the most part, are just opinionated busy bodies trying to stir up trouble, making people think about things, showing off our talents, being funny, being outrageous. We may be jounalists, but it’s a whole nother type of journalism going on here. We don’t need no stinkin’ facts.

For those of you who actually read The Phantom’s blog, you know that we’ve been out of commission for awhile now. It was all due to technical difficulties, of course, but things are clicking along now. I’m no techie wizzard so I rely on “staff” to keep me up and running. But here’s the good news, the blog’s technical issues appear to be fixed. And, I’m making no real promises, but I do intend to write more often, with enthusiasm and hope. Stay tuned