I am beginning to think I live in a country, maybe even a world, populated by Veruca Salts, and that we are being battered by yet another virus. For those not in this particular know, Veruca Salt is the supremely spoiled British girl in the Roald Dahl classic Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Julie Dawn Cole brought her to stunning, whiny, tantrumy life in the 1971 film starring Gene Wilder redubbed Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. You know which one I mean, She of the “IwantitNOW,Daddy!” refrain. Maybe the world isn’t overrun by Verucas, but there are enough Verucas, and their wheels are squeaking loudly enough that it’s giving me pause, and a little bit of a headache. “It’s the economy, stupid,” says the Lincoln-wannabe in The White House. “The economy. The economy. The economy.” Maybe if he keeps saying it loudly enough it will drown out every other voice, the voices of reason.

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