Well, we are done posting those excruciating posts about remodeling frustration. Now it's time to enjoy life and deal with the nagging anxiety of finding The Buyers. So Cindy and I have been taking the time to enjoy life's little pleasures: washing the cars on a Saturday afternoon, working our way through the Beatles anthology DVD's (again), taking a bike ride and enjoying the NY Times on the weekends.
We had another treat today, as we (Cindy, her friend Amy and I) drove to St. Paul to witness some of the craziness that is the Republican National Convention and to see a Live! taping of the Daily Show with your host, John Stewart. The show is taped in the heart of St. Paul, just about a mile away from the convention. The deal with getting into the show is that you have to wait in line for 2 - 3 hours before they start letting people in. So while we waited in line we listened to a few bands playing on the lawn behind us and watched the parade of Police vehicles of all types, big shiny cars with mysterious occupants and upright citizen republicans mixing with the outside edges of society. The most unfortunate part, though, was watching a couple trucks making the circles around downtown plastered with their dogma. One was a large delivery van that had one giant picture on each side and the back of aborted fetuses. The pictures had to be 4 feet by 6 feet. The other was much more creative in a folk art kind of way. It appeared to be an old Datsun pickup retrofitted with a camper like back end that was hand lettered with biblical verse, something about Truth, Not Tolerance, two large flags on top (one of which seemed to be either a christian or a KKK flag) and of course, the requisite abortion photo on the back. The crowd was having fun with it, tho. Every time they would drive by, they would receive a mocking applause. Quite the scene.
Seeing the trucks going round and round with their in your face messages got me to thinking about some messaging that wasn't allowed to happen in this town while the convention is in progress. A photographer named Suzanne Opton has been taking a series of portraits of returning Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who have returned from war. She has been displaying them on billboards in cities like Syracuse and Buffalo. She had a contract to put some up in St. Paul but the powers that be decided at the last minute that they would be "too disturbing". A picture of one of them is at the top of this post. So I'm just thinking about who decides what information and imagery is proper for us fools to be privy to and what free speech actually means. Thank you Republicans!
But, then we got into the Daily Show (locked into it, actually) and all was in balance again. I gotta say, John Stewart is not only smart and hilarious, but he is sharp as a tack. As a double bonus, we were sitting next to his honor, the Mayor of St. Paul and his wife and her giddy girlfriend. We had the row all to ourselves! I didn't have the heart to ask Mayor Coleman how the Security Zone was doing in the face of the unrelenting assault by the Anarkists. Next time.
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