Polar Bears Going Door to Door

If you are looking to head to the beach this weekend, you could head North. The North Pole is now sitting in the North Pole Lake. That's right, for the past 10 summers, the North Pole has turned from ice to water. This should make you think about Climate Change with a whole new perspective.

Congress. Still working just as hard as you think they are. That is not much of a compliment, in case you are wondering. Stephen mentioned HR 2904, a House bill that the Republicans are hoping Obama will sign and sign quickly. It's that one that says, "This is not another repeal of Obamacare, we swear, but don't look inside, just sign it! sign it!"

Senator Mitch McConnell was given a shout-out on the show. Although he has the nickname of Senator Gridlock, in part because of his numerous filibusters, he is taking heat from Tea Party groups who complained about his progressive liberal voting record.

This points up a problem in Washington. Some members of Congress might try to get stuff done, but then voters hold them accountable for what they have done. The solution is to keep it all secret until the year 2064 when Honey Boo Boo is president. So, Congress will do the People's Business, but it's just none of the People's Business to know about it.

Another Senator was mentioned, that Canadian favorite son, Ted Cruz. He and Stephen Colbert are in some sort of (private???) contest to see who is the most humble. Every day Ted Cruz (apparently) reminds himself of how humble he is. I just wish there was some way the two men could meet and have an official humility contest. Stephen Colbert would be way better than Ted Cruz. His humility is one of the traits he is proudest of.

Stephen's guest was Atul Gawande, a surgeon AND journalist, among other things. Go just read that first paragraph about him here at Wikipedia and you'll probably agree that he's a busy man. And yet he had time to be on the The Colbert Report. He also is an associate professor over at Harvard. I think that might be why he was one of those guests who is surprised when Stephen interrupts him. (Sorry Stephen, but it's true. Sometimes you don't let your guests finish saying what they were talking about.) Perhaps as a surgeon and a professor, Atul Gawande is used to people listening to everything he says and not asking questions until he asks if there are any questions from anyone. This is pure speculation on my part.

Anyway, he wrote an article for The New Yorker about "Slow Ideas." You should read it. If you think it is too long, then just read one page per day and in a week you will be done reading it. I will mention that Stephen did joke a bit with him about writing about Slow Ideas and then publishing it in a magazine.... Whatever.

Okay, let me check:
__ Title for this post - done
__ North Pole - done
__ Congress - done
__ Mitch McConnell - done
__ Honey Boo Boo - done
__ Ted Cruz - done
__ Atul Gawande - done

Great. I remembered to write about everything on my checklist. (And only one day late.)  Well done. Pat myself on the back.