And In The Center Ring

It is probably no coincidence that the first American circus opened in Philadelphia in 1792 only three years after the first 1789 Presidential Election. This later expanded to New York City and Boston, and politics being politics, the circus bought a horse from George Washington. To this day, Congress is more of a circus than Ringling Brothers. At least at Ringling Brothers, all the dangerous animals are kept in cages.

The Pelosi led Congress is starting with a bang, lots of good rhetoric and wonderful feel good moments. Whether or not they can keep George from playing Cowboys and Indians is a whole other matter. It is even open to question as to whether they will really want to since his failure is their election issue. When you have a clown in the White House, the acrobats have to do a high wire act on the Hill

The only thing the American public can do is to keep an eye on all three rings at once because it is a sure thing that the one you aren't watching is going to contain something that will bite you.

As P. T. Barnum noted:

There is a sucker born every minute
Each time the second hand sweeps to the top
Like dandelions up they pop
Their ears so big, their eyes so wide
And though I feed ‘em bonafide baloney
With no truth in it
Why you can bet I’ll find some rube to buy my corn.
'Cause there’s a sure-as-shooting sucker born a minute
And I’m referrin’ to the minute you were born.

1871 William Cameron Coup and showman P.T. Barnum opened an enormous circus in Brooklyn that they dubbed "The Greatest Show on Earth." Ten years later, Barnum went into business with James Anthony Bailey; the "Barnum and Bailey" circuses were so large they required simultaneous performances in three rings.

1884, the five Ringling brothers staged their first circus, and they soon were buying out other circus companies, including Barnum and Bailey, which they purchased in 1907. During the next three decades, the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Combined Shows grew into the largest touring organization in the world, with hundreds of tents and an army of workers and performers. The Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey downsized after World War II but continues to tour today.

A Trip Back In Time

There is something about a drizzly day elsewhere that makes a native start California Dreamin'. Not the one that exists now or even a recent one, but the one they remember from the height their childhood. For me that would be the California of 1950 to 1960. The first thing you should know about that California is that it was empty. It had 25 million fewer people than it does today, and even then those in the areas around its three major cities complained about traffic jams that lasted an hour in the morning and again in the afternoon.


The San Fernando Valley barely existed as a place to live. People other than major land owners were just starting to peak over the Hollywood Hills. It had not yet become the bedroom for Los Angeles. Huge chunks of it were still farm country as were the long stretches between the major cities. There is a reason Orange County is called orange county as you could tell from the roadside orange juice stands shaped like oranges. California valleys were the garden of the United States growing every conceivable fruit and nut in areas that are now miles of tract homes.

During this time period my main home was in the Los Angeles area with constant trips to the beaches and Disneyland. Summers were for Fresno. Now this is not the best time to be in Fresno which becomes an outpost of hell in August. This is good for drying grapes into raisins. It is horrendous for the human beings doing it. Without air conditioning more effective than a swamp cooler, there were only two things to do: Be neck deep in the huge Maple Plunge or go to the movies. As a result, I saw virtually every MGM musical and could give Esther Williams a run for her money.

In order to get out of Los Angeles, you could drive by car over the Grapevine. This was not the eight lane mega freeway of Interstate 5. It was this hazardous tangled string of switchbacks which is how it got it's name. You knew you were on the way when you got to see the Los Angeles Aqueduct spilling down the hill. Back then it wasn't a pipe covered conservation eyesore, but a beautiful manmade waterfall spilling down the hills.





Cannery Row in Monterey was still a working city. The restaurants and tourists had not yet taken over the fish packing plants. To get to any of these places from Los Angeles often meant Union Station and the train. Not the ratty service of AMTRAK with bus trips in various places instead of the rail, but porters, comfortable seats and the white tableclothed dining car with straight through service. If airports get any more difficult, it will be easier to go by train again even the stripped down comuter variety, but only if the freight lines will give back the rails.

You can still find bits and pieces of that California, but for the most part it is Paradise Lost to the massive numbers of people hunting for Heaven. I'll go back to being cheerful tomorrow.

All the leaves are brown
And the sky is gray
I've been for a walk
On a winter's day
I'd be safe and warm
If I was in L.A.
California dreaming
On such a winter's day

Open Letter From The Soap Box

MESSAGE TO MEMBERS OF CONGRESS

• You are not a common Man/Woman. If you were, you wouldn't be sitting in Congress. Something or someone gave you the drive, the nurturing, the education, the money, the support, and the votes to put you there. As such, you lost contact with "the average man" a long, long time ago, so don't pretend to be one. We all know differently.

Given the above premise you, or more likely an aide who reports to you, needs to read your email and any blog that happens to mention your name. This is not the same as attending a coffee with some of your polite and courteous constituents where you are the featured event. You need to learn to listen to the constituents who may not be on their best behavior. You know who they are: The ones who scream swear words at the TV set and think you should be hung by your thumbs in the public square as a target for rotten tomatoes.

They may or may not be right, but they are the ones who pay your salary, send their sons and daughters to your wars, try to work for a living in such a way that will put food on the table and a roof over their head. and live with the results of the medical and educational system you design. It is unlikely that you or any of the other 535 members of the legislators have faced any of these situations without the funds and a support system to make things easier. You are the ones who get to enjoy the best education, medicine, and law that money can buy. Whatever your problems, you at least get to enjoy your misery in comfort.

So pay attention to the needs of your constituents before you consider your pocket book, your friends and associates, or the wishes of the powerful. There are more than enough maxims to heed if you want to stay in office and enjoy your comforts, and a little sincere humility is very definitely in order

“A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and, of course, as long as you're looking down, you can't see something that's above you.” C. S. Lewis

"Pride sullies the noblest character." Claudianus

"The charity that hastens to proclaim its good deeds, ceases to be charity, and is only pride and ostentation. " William Hutton

"Pride is the mask of one's own faults. " Proverb

"In general, pride is at the bottom of all great mistakes." John Ruskin

"Pride is pleasure arising from a man's thinking too highly of himself." Benedict de Spinoza

"Proud people breed sad sorrows for themselves." Emily Bronte

"Pride goeth before a fall." Proverbs

Telling Tales

We all grew up on fairy tales. Most people associate these with the Brothers Grimm, but some of the most familiar were written by Charles Perrault based upon old French peasant tales such as Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, and Little Red Riding Hood. Hidden within those fairy tales are lessons to be learned which is why they have held up for centuries.

In 1987 Stephen Sondheim combined several of these with other tales from Germany and England to create Into The Woods.

One of the most memorable songs was Hello Little Girl where the Wolf tries to seduce Little Red Riding Hood. For no other reason than "Politics Make Strange Bedfellows" and the fact that for me one idea just naturally leaps willy nilly to another, this makes me think of Nancy Pelosi and the President. All that power can go to one's head. When facing an even more powerful adversary, things can get messy.

Will the wolf be outwitted again?
Will Red be led astray by temptation, power and privilege.
Will she resist with I Know Things Now?

When she is tempted, I would recommend a refresher review of Children Will Listen.