Puttering..."Tough but Fair"

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Life’s laid back in the tall timber…even the snow is more stubborn about melting. Crystallized and crusty drifts linger under the pine trees and in hollows and on the shadow sides of cabins.

In the morning, the thermometer dial under the eave says “27” and the mug of hot coffee billows steam into the air even as the sun warms the ground.

This is the season of puttering along. The ground still too frozen to work, but the “gifts that keep on giving”—from the dogs…and neighboring deer, and maybe fox, or coyote or wolf, or, hey, why not a cougar? “Some say” they’ve been seen up by Itasca—form hot spots absorbing the sun. Little flashpoint poops of form but not-usable substance.

We saw too much of that form but damned little useful substance from a slice of the media again this week.

TBF “Tough but fair” Stephanopoulos and ACE “arrogant condescending elitist” Gibson gave us another round of preening It’s-all-about-me “journalism.”

Plenty’s already been written about the “Fiasco in Philly”—you may have written a comment or two yourself. I understand a few people have….

So I won’t rehash that, except to note:

• Hey, ACE: He’s right—stop doing Stewart’s job. He’s a helluva lot better at it. Oh, and while you’re at it, stop doing Charlie Black and the RNC’s jobs, too. Do your own. And if you can’t figure out what that job is, have a chat with Moyers. He’s got it.
• And TBF? We’ll believe that whole tough but fair business when we see it equally dispensed—like the next time you sit down for a wee chat with McCain. I could offer some questions, but I bet if you really, really think about it, you could come up with those on your own. Go ahead, we know you can….
  

In the meantime, TBF and ACE, you stop the posturing and faux framing, guys—and I won’t try tellin’ you that plain ol’ dog poop is good fertilizer.

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Oh, and as for flag pins on lapels. Hmmmm, I won’t look for ’em next time my house is on fire. Just for the people who know how to do their jobs and put out the fires instead of fanning destructive flames.