ranting about Republicans, adoring Jon Stewart

In praise of the kindness of handymen: 33 degrees out there, and there are two sweating men on my roof repairing windows, painting, filling with wood filler ... while up there doing something else, they noticed other disintegrating bits of this poor old wreck of a house and are fixing them. While putting up new walls upstairs, John took it upon himself to repair a chip in the bathtub and replace the sink stopper. Now Kevin is sanding the last replacement wall and John is doing something invaluable, somewhere.

I know you'll find it hard to believe that something else in my life could go wrong at this fraught time, but - woo hoo! - a large piece of my lower left molar just fell out. Yes, it's true, and at 1 p.m. on a Friday before a long weekend. I called immediately, but my dentist had already left. I can go to an emergency clinic or see if I can stand the hole and using only the right side of my mouth, and hope Dr. Kreher can squeeze me in on Tuesday morning. Crisis and disintegration: we are falling apart here.

At least this gives me something to think about, so I don't have to pay attention to the Republican convention. Because what I've seen so far, in flashes on TV, is stomach-turning - politics so debased, so venal, false, conniving, disingenuous, cynical, loathsome. Samantha Bee, interviewing on the convention floor - people saying, America is about individual freedom, everyone free to do exactly as they want without interference!!!
Except for abortion, she said.
Yes of course, except for abortion, they said, smiling, without comprehending the concept of hypocrisy. So my uterus is public property, she said, and they stopped smiling. Ryan's speech full of blatant lies, and the few seconds I could stand to watch of Romney, with his fake folkiness and his paeans of pap - America, the greatest country ever etc. etc. Finger down the throat.

You know that I adore Jon Stewart. But this week, he's more than just the smartest, funniest, handsomest man on television. He and his team, in Tampa and at the convention, are the clarion voice of honesty and insight. They're COMEDIANS, and they're the only people making sense within a thousand miles of the convention centre. How does Jon manage to stay friends with renegade Republicans like Michael Steele and give them a forum on his show? Last night, the film clip they showed of the hidden reality of folksy Romney's incredibly privileged life - brilliant. I hope millions watch it on YouTube. Lefties are clinging to Jon Stewart and to Colbert, too, as to life rafts. Save us, Lord, from sanctimonious, deluded morons.

Okay, got that off my chest. Didn't think about the throbbing hole in my mouth once while I did. Hammering - sanding - a heat wave - a tiny sensation in the molar region - Republicans. But HEY, I'm alive, and if you're reading this, so are you. Aren't we lucky!

A New Yorker cartoon in last week's issue: a man with his arms tightly around a tree trunk. "It'll never work," he says. "You're a TREE."

I know how he feels.