Real Kato Blog: Friday Fluff

A few thoughts to close the week.

Today was freakishly hot. And humid, too. In Japanese, the term for "humid" is mushi-atsui, which literally means "steam-hot". Oddly, the word mushi also means "bug". So when my sister and I were kids, on humid days like today, we would say "it's BUG-hot". These days, living in the South, I might amend that to "it's buggerin' hot". Of course, in heat like this, there's not much actual buggerin' likely to happen.

Uh-oh. Sandra Day O'Connor announced her retirement from the Supreme Court today, taking just about everyone by surprise (including some members of her own family). Everyone had been expecting a retirement announcement from Chief Justice William Rehnquist instead.

Since O'Connor is a moderate conservative, often arguing in favor of abortion rights and affirmative action, her departure may bring about a fundamental shift in the Court's overall philosophy. Because of that, a bruising nomination battle may be in store for whomever Bush might nominate as her replacement. The departure of Rehnquist, who is a staunch conservative, would be less likely to have such an impact.

If history is any guide, Bush will nominate a pro-life ideologue to appease the Christian right-wing, and will then press hard for a confirmation over Democrats' objections. Expect to hear the words "up or down vote" a zillion time over the next few months. Ugh. What might be interesting, though, is to see what kind of effect that would have on Bush's approval rating, given that a majority of Americans are pro-choice.

Brooke Shields is my new hero. I never thought I would say those words in my life. Brooke slammed Tom Cruise for his "ridiculous rant" on NBC's "Today" show. In case you haven't been following this story, Tom gave Matt Lauer a windy diatribe condemning the use of antidepressants. His now-infamous quote was: "You don't know the history of psychiatry. I DO." Brooke's response to this was: "I'm going to take a wild guess and say that Mr. Cruise has never suffered from postpartum depression." Brooke wrote a book about her severe post-partum depression, and her subsequent recovery with the help of the antidepressant drug Paxil.

I'm starting to think that ol' Tom has lost his marbles altogether. With the whole Katie Holmes thing, and the jumping on Oprah's couch, and the Scientology thing, and now this "Today" show performance... will anyone ever take him seriously again?

There's still hope for me. Actress Shannon Elizabeth, of "American Pie" fame, has filed for divorce. Can someone send me her e-mail address or phone number? You know, just in case she needs someone to talk to. I'm a pretty good listener.

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