I neglected earlier to go on my rant about Nicholas & Alexandra, the last Tsar and Empress of Russia. I’m currently reading a biography of them, and at the eve of the Russian Revolution, and boy am I getting pissed at Alexandra! Nicky (seriously, his friends called him that) went off to the front to handle The Great War and he foolishly let his darling Sunny (what he called her) run the country. I’m not saying that women are unable to run a country; I’m saying that she shouldn’t have been allowed to run a country. She paid no attention to political matters during the first 20 years of her husband’s reign, and, worse, she was totally under Rasputin’s influence. So if Rasputin didn’t like a cabinet member, she begged Nicky to fire him. So she wound up firing this group of talented, smart people in favor of a bunch of incompetent members of the aristocracy. Argh!
Sorry for the rant, but I've gotten emotionally involved in this story, and even though I know how it turns out, it still upsets me. Stupid stupid stupid.
Current song in my head:
“River of Dreams” by Billy Joel