Our supper table was calmer when Daddy did not read the afternoon newspaper until after the family ate. Otherwise, he’d chew on one disturbing news item after another – becoming more upset with each bite – until the rest of us could hardly swallow.

Like father, like daughter. Especially over the past week, when headlines gave me headaches: WorldCom on brink of bankruptcy, ‘Under God’ leads court to reject school pledge, Ashcroft wants 9th Circuit to review pledge decision.

Enough bad news. I was already furious over Enron, Tyco, Global Crossing and Arthur Andersen. But, now, more crooked accounting in WorldCom, to send more shock waves through Wall Street and further undermine consumer confidence (translate, mine).

And then the ruling by a federal appeals court declaring the Pledge of Allegiance unconstitutional because of the word a nation “under God.” This precipitated outbursts in Congress, consuming the Senate and House – and taking solons away from other pressing business – while resolutions were passed in protest against the 2-1 court ruling handed down in California.

Enter Attorney General John Ashcroft, who declares that the Justice Department, for crying out loud, “will defend the ability of our nation’s children to pledge allegiance to the American flag.” President Bush reacts, promising to appoint “common-sense” judges to overturn such rulings.

The news stories continued to upset my stomach, just as they did my Daddy’s.

Just as they probably did our own Martha Stewart, who got a bad rap for something she didn’t do – not invite people to a July Fourth party on Somes Sound that she wasn’t having because her summer residence is in Seal Harbor. Seems some other Stewarts are the ones having the exclusive affair, but no one bothered to “ask Martha” before blasting her on radio shows. Why, the whole thing was just outrageous.

Other news stories made my stomach – and my psyche – churn: the fact that Maine’s hemlock trees are being ravaged by wooly adelgids; the Supreme Court landmark decision that public funds could be used for private or parochial schools; the fact that more corporate confessions of misdeeds and frauds are yet to come. And the beat goes on.

The thing that made me the maddest this week was a syndicated column by Maggie Gallagher chastising Rudy Giuliani for being a tightwad in regard to his divorce settlement. Listen to this: “That’s right: $3,600 a month goes for his two kids, leaving approximately $996,400 a month for he and Judy.”

For “he” and Judy?

The grammatical gaffe nearly made me lose my supper. Daddy would have understood.