The Scene: Medium-sized kitchen in a usually non-political suburban family home. A mother and her two teenage sons are cleaning up after dinner. The sons clear the table as the mother loads the dishwasher.  The mother has noticed that this is often the time when out-of-the-blue questions are asked or odd comments are made. Why? she wonders. Are their full stomachs causing their neurons to fire and their synapses to connect? Is it their minimal effort to humor their mother and engage in a family conversation before retiring to their rooms for the night? Or are they just trying to distract themselves from the fact that they are doing a household chore?

Younger son: Who’s that guy nobody likes who made a bunch of money off the Iraq war?

Mother (stalling, not sure where her son is going with this):  Umm . . .

Older son: George Bush?

Mother (turns head away, stifles a laugh):  Well, I –

Younger son: No, that other guy – Shaney?

Mother: Cheney.

Both sons in unison: Yeah, that guy.

Mother (toning down her amusement):  What about him?

Younger son: I saw this thing on one of those comedy shows and this guy who was being him had this horrible, evil laugh.

Mother: Hmm. I never heard that before.

Older son: Well, I think they’re both war profiteers.

Mother: Where did you learn about war profiteering?

Older son: Wikipedia.

 

Image credit: Andrea Kratzenberg