Mow The Lawn

Flirtatious: "What are you drinking?"

Real Mood: Arrogant

Prediction: Rupert Murdoch and Ted Turner will not be down washing mud off the "Riverwalk" next week. ( or any week for that matter.)

I watched a little hurricane coverage last night and then a little this morning. About twenty minutes of this morning's coverage finally got to me. I stood up, made some coffee, toasted some toast, stretched a few muscles and made a solemn vow. Want to hear it? Here goes! 

"I'm going to go mow the lawn."

Try this on for an analogy. You know when you're on the plane and the flight attendant (or B movie actress on the video) tells you, "Use the oxygen mask on your self first, before you assist a child?"  Please somebody. Give these anchors some oxygen.

I think grief counselors will tell you this stage in a major disaster always comes.  Anger!  While we may all feel it, someone has to maintain some composure.  Had Rip Van Winkle just returned to earth and started watching TV today, I doubt he'd think we were dealing with a hurricane.  He would be wondering what started this war.

"Is it a race war? Is it a labor strike? Is the South trying to pull out again? Who is flying those attack helicopters over the city? What rebel group is firing at the choppers from the war ruins? Did somebody bomb the power plants? How did so many soldiers get wounded? Where are they taking those prisoners in those buses. "Who?" "Why?" "What?"

Poor Rip. I'll bet he wants to just go right back to sleep. That's what I wanted to do while accidentally watching "The Fox Morning Crew" giving their studied impressions this morning. They were, in fact,  MEANLY debasing another network  for allowing a rapper to vent on camera.  But you know they forgot to look stage left where an African American panelist was in attendance. In the kindest, most peaceful tone, the man uttered something like, "Yes but I think there are issues there we need to look at?"

The GANG jointly give him the equivalent of ,"COME ON!" Then they quickly cut him off and go to break.  From me to them?

"Hey, guys, go mow the lawn."

I didn't know Peter Jennings. I'd met him once and did a feature story on him hosting the ABC newscast here. What I saw, I liked. Sure he had a lot of producers out there doing grunt work for him.  But he seemed humble about that.  He really seemed to understand their value in helping him make sense of the news.  He clearly saw the getting and giving of perspective as part of his mission. AND he seemed to "Get It"that we watching wanted to get it calmly and without a lot of opinion.  And I'm thinking to reach that plateau he needed to do at least two things: "Get Some Sleep," "And Mow The Lawn."

I'm not being facetious when I quote the oft maligned Rodney King.

"Why can't we all just get along?"

"We'll Rodney, in this case I'd have to say it's partly because we have these news anchors who've been up for 5 days without sleep, winging it with their editorials, blasting any and everyone without doing their homework, and generally just agitating rather than educating. They wouldn't be behaving like that if they'd just paused to do one normal thing, like mow the lawn. And what are they trying to prove? "Get Some Sleep! " 

Meantime Rip and Rodney are down sharing a pitcher of "Fat Tire."  Now that's normal.  That's how you get along.