The Grand Opening: It turns out it won’t be so grand, no Fourth of July hooray with bells, whistles, firecrackers and the doors of commercial America swinging open. Two thoughts. One is the political slickery that was pulled on us. The president punted. The receivers were fifty governors. Fifty ways to leave your lover? At least fifty ways to open your state, one of which is not to. Where’s Al Haig when you need him? Someone has to say, “I’m in charge here.”
The second is the opening itself. Where’s Pogo when you need him? “I have seen the enemy and he is us.” Let’s take my home state and the block-headed decisions being made by our governor. When the virus hit, he closed the state but for four adjacent counties up north that had no cases. Those folks, free to move about did so, and it wasn’t too, too long before “and then there were none.” Using the same mode of thought, he’s opening the state except for the southern counties. These counties are large, populous and contain Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, and West Palm Beach. Here’s an example.
In those counties it has been impossible to find disinfectant amongst about a dozen others things. Will not the folks from down here decide “what a wonderful day for a day trip” and drive an hour or two to the open counties where the run on such stuff will stop and the supply chain will catch up? You bet your bippy, and they’ll take the virus with them. A stroke of genius.
Quarantine/personal: I’m beginning to feel like I should be measuring the walls to assure myself that they aren’t really closing in on me. The birds still sing and I still love them for it. But you know…I wouldn’t mind going somewhere and doing something. On the other hand, I have two cousins whose husbands stopped just short of death’s door. Their recovery is made up of micro-steps and has taken weeks. We have other family members who have had Covid and ringing in my ear is the gentleman whose quote is played and replayed, “The doctor said I had a mild case. I’ve never been so sick in my life.” So we’ve decided that if we have to add the tape measure to our list of in-home activities, so be it. We have lots of walls and lots of tape measures.
Michigan: I’m outraged at hearing reporters point out that the armed thugs that invaded the Michigan state house represent as one said, “So small a fraction of the state politic that I can’t even do the math.” I learned at a shoot out with KKK in North Carolina in the ’70’s that it only takes one person with one gun to crate a small war’s worth of havoc. Whatever was in the mind of the governor a) when she allowed people with war weapons to enter the grounds of the state capitol and b) and then allowed them enter into the building itself? These people should have been arrested–immediately–come what may. The worst thing one can do when facing bullies is let them have their way. Governor Whitmer gets an “F” for that piece of waffling. She wimped out. She’s off my potentials list for VP.
China: The lovable Jewish comedian of the 50’s and ’60’s Myron Cohen had this bit of advice for us. Two old ladies were having their daily tea together. They’d been doing it for so long that on occasion topics failed them. One morning during such a lull, Ester says to Goldie, “So, my dear, what do you think about Red China.” The response…? It doesn’t go so good on a yellow table cloth.” Ba da boom.
Would that our China policy, such as it is, made as much sense. Allow Americans to sue China? That’s rich. Not only because any judgments would be unenforceable. A bigger problem is you can’t prove the case. Collecting evidence and taking depositions in China would be worthy of a Marx Brother’s movie. And is this the time to beard the tiger when we ourselves are in such bad shape? Let’s see this for what it is–distraction by the administration. The course to set is to set China and Russia at each other. There is a long, historical hatred there. Use it. Let them make each other crazy and let us stay out of it. Instead the government has erected so many straw dogs to side-step responsibility that wheat farmers could actually make a buck.
Crime: Hoarding of critical supplies and selling them on the black market at insanely overpriced cost is almost a human pastime. We have a gene for it, methinks. I remember Hurricane Andrew and vendors on the street selling bottles of water for five and 10 dollars a pop. Well our Attorney General has finally decided to do something for the people as opposed to for the President. He has declared war on price-gouging. Investigations have been done. Warehouses chock full of PPE’s and other necessities have been found, warrants issued, and finally arrests are being made. I like ending on a high note when possible. The FBI has worked out with the Dept of Justice and found way that these caches of material will be distributed immediately to places of need immediately after they have been cataloged and photographed. Finally, a sensible idea–at least from my perspective.
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If you listen carefully you can here the strains of “If I ever needed you, I need you now” coming through your computer. That’s Bill Gralnick singing to you. While his opening quarter of sales was uplifting, the quarter covering the pandemic up until April 30th was dismal. And he doesn’t qualify for federal aid… Help him by:
Buying his book, “The War of the Itchy Balls and Other Tales from Brooklyn.” Endorsed by many including Brian Williams, Lynn Sherr, Peter Bavasi, and Earl Erskine, the book’s reviews have been humblingly good. Amazon.com or B&N.com. Paperback or e-book.
This blog: Send copies to friends and neighbors. Tell them to have a look. If nothing else, it’s eclectic and therefore interesting. http://www.atleastfrommyperspectiveblog.wordpress.com
Check out the website: http://www.williamgralnickauthor.com
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