The Air and Water Show is over and done and Larry the Doorman assures me that this is the first true sign of autumn, or autumn to come. As we have seen before (See Larry the Doorman vs. Phil the Groundhog.) Larry is very rarely wrong in matters of meteorology. Labor Day will soon come a knocking and the slow cooldown will be rocking. Next thing you know we'll be viewing the Chicago Marathon. Then it'll be Thanksgiving. Next thing you know you forgot to buy your wife a Christmas present and it'll be the last minute. Thanks for the update Larry. The skies and the lake are looking a little gray at the moment. Currently it's 81 degrees under mostly cloudy skies, with a chance of a thunderstorm later. This, from the Streeterville Weather Service. Neglected to ask Larry about specifics.
Even as summer winds down and autumn tiptoes in, the weird season endures. My favorite story of the day involves yet one more fiasco of a townhall meeting, this one being held by Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts. Townhall meeting organized in a Senior Center in Southeastern Massachusetts, a quiet respectful exchange of views and information, right? Wrong.
A woman holding a picture of Obama with a Hitler-style mustache stepped up to the microphone and demanded to know why Frank supports what she called Nazi policies. Representative Frank looked at her at that point and asked, "On what planet do you spend most of your time?" He went on to say, "Ma'am, trying to have a conversation with you would be like trying to argue with a dining room table. I have no interest in doing it."
Apparently the meeting progressed with various loonies yelling and booing when people attempted to express real thought and when faced with the prospect of taking the next question from the audience Frank said, "Which one of you wants to yell next?" You go Barney. Got to like that guy. This country could use a little more smart-ass in the dialogue when the opposition to your policies resorts to tactics from the lunatic fringe.
It's just frustrating to attempt to have a real debate about healthcare, or anything else for that matter, when those who disagree with you begin making up facts, resort to name-calling, and plain old shouting you down to shut you up. What that means is that no one gets the actual facts. No one hears a reasoned response. It makes for entertaining shots on the evening news, but not much more. It obfuscates the real debate.
Sometimes I find myself pining for those quick-witted sorts who had the ability to put people in their place, who had the ability to make people feel about 3 inches high. Where are those quick wits and sharp tongues when you need them? Barney Frank got a couple of shots in, but for the most part the quick wits are too civilized to resort to barbs even when the opposition is calling them really rude names. The opposition is busy being shouted down by orchestrated groups of loonies. At this rate, American politics is going to devolve into something akin to the circus that is Italian politics, a sideshow including strippers and porn stars who get elected to the national legislature. Well, at least they have something to look at while the yelling and screaming is going on.
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