coffee grounds

A few questions and thoughts

1. If you're an atheist and republican (small r, small r) which is worse? The incessant coverage of Princess Diana's death or the coverage of the Pope's death.
   My answer: Princess Diana's death. No question about it. I might not be religious but Catholicism is a major and serious religion. The Pope's death is a world historical event (they'll give me a degree in this subject eventually with insights like that!). The Pope took his responsibilities seriously. One of the things that turns me off religion is its potential divisiveness, and this Pope didn't seem to promote a whole lot of religious wars. Quite the opposite. Princess Diana married into a declining royal house. She did find useful things to do with her oodles of spare time, but really, the first week of September 1997 was a self-imposed news blackout for me.
   
2. Bob Dylan: Most prolific and influential American musician of the past half-century, or a guy who doesn't know when to stop touring?
   The last two albums and Fridays show at the Auditorium in Chicago make me think "C: both". Just because he doesn't know how to stop touring does not mean that he should stop .... Still excellent live performances.
   And as someone said "You just to have keep going to Bob, 'cause you don't know when his youth will catch up to him and he'll just keel over and die ..." Morbid, but probably true.
   
3. What card will Pawlenty pull from the pack now to "balance" the budget?
   
4. Doesn't Jesse Ventura know that auditions for the pirate in Peter Pan have closed?