I am struggling very hard to believe we are not devolving into a nation of assholes. Up until this weekend I was doing a pretty good job.

For the past 4 days I've been driving around the city with a severely dented rear bumper and a trunk that won't latch because somebody hit my parked car and drove off without stopping or leaving a note.

I would like to get beyond this but can't because I drive everyday. The trunk is tied down but not immoble, so the car constantly vibrates. Plus the car looks unbelievably cheesy.

This is one of the facts of life in driving and living in the city. I will likely feel better once I hear from my insurance company and I can fix my car. But it's no fun being a victim even in this relatively small way. Also given my general neurosis at the best of times, I can't help but see this as one more tiny example of the callousness of people.

I do have the benefit of knowing who did it (or at least knowing that the person lives in the neighborhood ). At least I can't blame this one on SUVs.

So long. Farewell.

Hmmm...Thoughts anyone?

I started watching "HItler: The Rise of Evil" on CBS last night, more or less against my better judgement. I'm not sure what I expected. One thing that bugs me about these dramatizations of "evil" is that they rarely ever show us anything new. They showed us his childhood in a montage that lasted maybe five minutes, and they never show him in a moment when he's not driven or obsessed.

Part of the problem is that we have a very limited imagination when it comes to evil. We see it in terms of psychosis and meglomania and we miss the point that but for a large amount of cold clear-headed calculation, the Third Reich may never have come to me.

"Conspiracy" on HBO to me was far scarier, because the business of committing mass murder was simply that, business to be dertermined over a long lunch by various bureaucrats. It's so mundane and so civilized and so completely divorced from the horror that they are planning, and yet so terrifyingly real.