Everybody Talks About the Weather, but Nobody Does Anything About It

Even on a rainy day sometimes a good cliche can wipe the clouds away.  One of my faves is "everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it."  How true, how true.

On NBC Nightly News last night and on The Today Show this morning, Brian and Al and Ann were talking about this week's rain along the east coast and its possible impact on Thanksgiving holiday travel like it was some Big Story. Since when is a middling, mildly annoying rainstorm national news?  When New Orleans sinks or Kansas is blown to Oz, then the weather is arguably of national interest.  Is everyone so freaked out from hurricane season and the specter of global warming that they  lose interest in other critical facets of American life about which the country seems paralyzed, such as our overly levered economy, corrupt congress and the unjust war for oil currently underway in Iraq?

Well maybe the bad weather is a cold comfort of sorts.  Thursday is Thanksgiving, people have to travel and eat -- come hell or high water.  And all anybody can do is talk about the rain and happily reassure themselves with the fact that they can't do anything about it.