longitudes, latitudes, it's so absurd

What I'm about to type is a landmark for me. I don't think I'll ever be able to type it again. It was so very Camus in a way. Last night, George W. Bush cheered me up out of an impending depression. It's crazy, but it's true.

I came home and got yet another in a series of blows to my confidence, and I was really blue. Nothing made sense. I felt slighted. I felt like I wasn't good enough. I felt like I had been dealt a bad hand. My usual don't mess with me attitude was eclipsed by wallowing self-pity. Looking for something to distract me, I turned to the book my brother had just given me, Collapse. But as it turned out, that was written so well that it actually made me feel worse and even more inadequate. I closed the book, and, predictably, turned on the television.

And what should appear before my eyes? CNN, George W. Bush, and folk music somewhere in the former Soviet Union. And here's where he melted me, people- W. started doing this weird jig. It wasn't an Ashlee Simpson-esque hoedown. No, it was more understated. It involved him placing his hands on his hips, and making an odd hip movement in time to the music. Laura Bush stepped safely away from him as if to say "Hey, I'm married to him, but I can't control him, don't look at me." I burst into laughter. The absurdity of my current President caused me to think, well, nothing makes sense these days anyway, so there's no reason to be upset about your current predicament. So I never thought I'd write this, but thanks George. You helped a sister out after all.

And now for something completely different (that's a shoutout to Spamalot, which just landed a billion Tony nominations). This is something I've wondered for quite a while, but how is it possible that Vermont and New Hampshire turned out to be such vastly different states? The stark contrast was highlighted recently when I caught these two stories within a few days of each other:

• Vermont is getting closer and closer to universal access healthcare reform. It's certainly not a done deal, but the strides are being made.
• New Hampshire, on the other hand, is currently entertaining a proposal to charge the poorest for Medicaid. According to the story, "they argue that making the poor pay would make them thriftier health care consumers." Come on, say it with me now- WTF?!?

Would someone please explain to me how these two states share a border?