“It’s been a real winner of a week,” I said sarcastically. Clyde said nothing in response, he just looked up at me and continued drying a glass fresh from the sink. “A whole week of refusals, nothing more.”
Holding the just-dried glass up to the light, he finally asked. “Still trying to get that book of short stories published?”
I shook my head, “No, working on this week’s column. You know I like to give the readers of Bearing Drift a smile, or even better, a chuckle, to round out their week. It’s been nothing but one refusal piled on another until the only way to describe this week is as a “refuse-pile” of refusals.”
“What do you mean?”
“well, it started off a week or two ago, actually. The UVA Board of Visitors refused to follow any kind of protocol and chased off their President. It really caused a ruckus on campus. The Vice Rector refused to go along and resigned. There were angry calls for the Rector to resign. A real mess. Even worse, The Roanoke Times was really eating it up. It was worse than that forest thing at Virginia Tech a few weeks ago.”
“Calm down Bunkie. Can I get you cup of coffee, shot of Bushmills, maybe? As always the coffee is free, but you gotta pay for the whiskey.” Clyde said.
“How about both, Clyde.”
He set me up with a steaming mug and a short glass and said, “OK, now you can continue.”
“Give me a minute,” I said.
I drank enough of the bitter, old, coffee to make room, then poured in the Bushmills. Just to knock the edge off it. There’s a reason Clyde’s coffee is free, ten minutes after brewing even Juan Valdez can’t drink it straight.
“Governor McDonnell refused to let the UVA kerfuffle simmer any longer, and demanded a do-over, do it now and do it right this time, he tells them. Or heads will roll.”
“I guess Governor McDonnell was right. My Grandfather always said, ‘If you ain’t got time to do it right, when you gonna find time to do it over?’
“Well, they found time and did it over. Though I thought it was a heavily scripted BoV meeting, with a predestined outcome, at least it did follow the proper rules.”
I continued, “Montana refused to believe that protecting the First Amendment applied to them, until the Supreme Court reminded them that, really, it does. Then that same court refused to let Arizona police their own border. They did allow the state to continue verifying the legal status of folks stopped or arrested if there is reasonable doubt, but then the President said he would refuse to act on any information Arizona’s authorities sent his way.
“That’s three refusals in a row right there.”
“Today the headlines on your TV up there say the Supreme Court refused to overturn the insurance mandate, and the Congressional Black Caucus, along with other Democrats, walked out of the Capitol, refusing to take part in the vote on Holder’s contempt of congress charge. They’re saying it’s racist.
“Oh, and to top it off, many Democrats are refusing to take part in Obama’s convention in Charlotte.
“Now you see my dilemma Clyde? The whole damn week has been one refusal after another. I stopped counting. How can I end the reader’s week on a sunny note when this is all I have to work with? Another Bushmills, please. This time with ice. It’s already Thursday y’know”
“Well,” Clyde replied, “You might could get something light out of the Democrat’s refusal to attend the convention. That is kinda funny.”
“Yeah, right. Two whole sentences:
‘Many Democrats refuse to attend their own convention. Even in a tank full of minnows a few will seem intelligent when you put the dip net in.’
“I can’t make a whole column out of that!”
Bearing Drift has more complete coverage on some of these subjects here:
UVA kerfuffle; Brian Kirwin, had this. While Rick Sincere posted here.
Insurance Mandate; Brian Schoeneman reports from inside the courtroom, and Shaun Kenney shares the thoughts of others.
