Wait, Wait - Don't Laugh

There was a popular bumper sticker going around Alaska some years ago -- ALASKANS FOR GLOBAL WARMING. Here in Vermont we're having the winter that wasn't and I'm wondering if you can find one like that for this part of the country. Of course, having a "Vermonter for Global Warming" sticker on your car might get you beaten senseless with a hacky sack around here. And probably for good reason.
Although I still don't understand why we're not supposed to laugh at completely awful things anymore. I thought that was what laughter was for -- to relieve the emotional pressure from a disaster whether present or impending. If you've ever witnessed anyone fall from a roof or a ladder you will have noticed that a good part of the time they laugh on the way down. I've done it myself. It's not laughter based in humor or irony of any kind. It's steam-valve laughter -- as if you didn't laugh your gallbladder would explode. It's the laughter of being one hundred percent utterly screwed. I don't know why global warming got me thinking about that.
As long as we're on the subject of laughing so your gallbladder won't explode, I'll be on the panel of this weekend's Wait-Wait, Don't Tell Me along with Charlie Pierce and Sue Ellicott. Charlie has the best laugh in radio today, and Sue will bring her classy wit to bear on all the week's news absurdities. I will make sure everyone's water glasses are kept full. If you're not familiar with the show, check it out at npr.org .

Language Emersion

After listening to several hours of the Senate confirmation hearings for Judge Alito I started to lose the feeling in the left side of my body. I now realize why everyone in Washington looks old and gray and numb. Day after day of this kind of thing would turn anyone to stone.
So, we're going to Central America for a few days. I figure being in a country where I don't speak the language but can get the gist of what is being said is better than being home where I do speak the language but can't tell what anybody means by it.
Actually, this is a glorious and long-anticipated trip to visit the baby boy in Guatemala City who will be joining our family later this spring. He is three-months old and currently fluent in Burble and Drool. I hope to teach him GaGa and Gootchy (specialties of mine) before we have to say goodbye -- or "bye-bye" "bye-bye" "bye-bye" as the case may be.