Punk'd?

Some days, I know exactly what I'm going to blog about. For example, the "Break-ing My Silence" post that's since gotten a lot of feedback (thanks!) actually came to me in the middle of the night and prevented me from sleeping. (Yeah, I thought I just hated the conservative right for their ideas - now I can also blame them for my insomnia.) And the one way back about the pantless man in Minnesota? Well, it goes without saying it was pretty clear to me after that incident what I'd be writing about the next day.

Today, I wasn't so sure. It was just a regular day - got up "early," took Moby to daycare, went to a morning yoga class, had some breakfast and read a magazine, spent a while in a bookstore, watched a little Oprah, and wrapped that all up with dinner in Chelsea with a friend of Brad's from high school. It was all lovely, but nothing really lent itself to storytelling.

And then, as I sat with my laptop open, the news delivered a gift to me like an early Christmas.

Following up on Hurricane Ike's devastation, Eyewitness News interviewed some victims in Galveston, Texas. And of course, you expect sobbing and stories of loss and all of the things that drive you to donate to the Red Cross (which of course is a good thing to do). But...well, I guess things really are different in Texas.

As a doberman paced back and forth on the porch of the bed and breakfast in the backdrop, the woman they interviewed pointed to her sign that read, "Trespassers will be SHOT." See, I guess there's a looting problem post-hurricane, as you might expect. And rather than leave their homes and/or businesses in the wake of raw sewage, lacking food and running water, non-existent electricity and power, and roaming alligators (no joke), property owners are standing tall and protecting what's theirs - by shooting at people.

"It's my constitutional right," said the Bed and Breakfast manager. "I'm a licensed gun owner - it's registered." It seems no one explained to Annie Oakley that having a registered firearm doesn't open the door for manslaughter.

A mulleted man told reporters that "some nice, unnamed police officers" had actually provided him with bullets for his guns (yes, plural), and instructed him to "shoot if anyone approached."

Okey-dokey Annie, I stand corrected.

And so might I just take a step back and ask...What the hell is happening to our country?

Police officers, who mind you, are supposed to be the people's protectors, are advising citizens to kill each other; the economy is officially imploding, with leading banks and insurers gone belly-up; O.J. Simpson is on trial - AGAIN; and Sarah Palin is still on the GOP presidential ticket.

Are we being punk'd?

Ashton, you got us good this time.