Norway, Debt Ceiling

I am absolutely shocked to hear about the violence which broke out in Norway today. As of this writing the press is saying that more than 80 people have died in two blasts (miles apart) and a shooting rampage. At this time neither The New York Times nor the Times of London have repeated the story, but CNN is stating as many as 87 have died.

news article here

I have nothing to add at this time other than to quote from the CNN article:

Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg was not in his office at the time of the blast and was not hurt, officials said.

Afterward, he had a message to whoever may have been responsible: "You won't destroy us," he said. "You won't destroy our democracy. We are a small but proud nation. No one can bomb us to silence. No one can scare us from being Norway. This evening and tonight, we'll take care of each other. That's what we do best when attacked."

Let's all take a minute to think of Norway today, please.

Debt Ceiling

I do not pretend to understand the economics or politics of the debt ceiling issue entirely, other than to note that I am watching to see what sort of moment in history our elected officials choose to engage in.

History teaches us many things, mainly about how what we do today will be written about tomorrow. Let us hope that wisdom trumps egos and that politics and posturing do not mean we accidentally end modern civilization.