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August 3, 2004
Today's menu: a mix of tidbits
Long-time friend Glenn Yahn, who never fails to ask me at our Monday meetings of Rotary if our Presbyterian church service on the previous day necessitated extra chairs to be moved into the sanctuary, recently sent me a bit of humor from one of the popular magazines of the day. I thought you would enjoy it, too, so here `tis:
Who said this about Las Vegas? {Dancing girls and drinking and wild parties and shows there. This is no place for a Presbyterian, so I no longer am one. } - William B. DePass Jr. Columbia, S.C.
Hal Holbrook combined a few Twain quotes to come up with that line for his show, Mark Twain Tonight, but the subject was Virginia City, Nevada. Las Vegas was just a watering hole in Twain's time.
Still strikes me as funny.
Political news just isn't what it used to be, at least not with those who read it. Or so it seems. The major networks did a good job of tailoring their coverage of the last Democratic party convention, and barely a handful of viewers tuned in. This is supposed to be a very hot year for political decision-making by the voters, but the post-convention surveys indicate very little interest.
Even here in Perry, things aren't what they used to be. There was a time when this newspaper held night-long "election parties" (to give the citizens a rundown on who was winning and by how much.) Interest apparently lags nowadays and the old parties are barely remembered. Who cares? Do you hear any complaints? I don't, even though it is hard for me not to express more interest than some of us do.
Most people in this area kept track of trends by reading three political writers: Otis Sullivant of The Daily Oklahoman, Lyle Wilson of our local wire service, UPI, and Gene Taylor of this newspaper, who enjoyed gathering political gossip and using it to measure the interest of voters in each candidate. All three gentlemen are now deceased and no one has come forward to take their place. Pity. They uncovered some interesting things, including a few they could even write about.
But time marches on. We get our news in different ways now, and it doesn't seem to make much difference.