Finding Ways to Spend Time

I never talk politics on this site. I don't talk politics anywhere else. I'm tired of it. This morning I saw an article in the paper about Senator Gordon Smith threatening to filibuster a spending bill over issue of payments to rural counties, and I thought of a post, but it isn't about politics.

I'm writing about this because of the Senator's choice of reading material. The Pendleton Oregon born Senator intended to read from phone books and a status report on the spotted owl. I suggest another choice, one that I think will demoralize and deflate his opponents; the Senator should read Anna Karenina from cover to cover or until the clock runs out. In a filibuster, what greater display of determination can there be than reading from a Russian novel?

I tried to read Anna Karenina. People were surprised and supportive, they wished me well, but the novel bested me. If I were to filibuster, that would be the first book that I would take from the shelf.(I see Senate leaders stopped Mr Smith's attempt after an hour.)