This Is our Village

Tuesday, December 24, 2013

ON OR OFF THE FENCE?


I have been accused on the “other” blog of no longer being “on the fence” with regard to Dave Israel and his administration and given several questions to answer to Olga Wolkenstein’s satisfaction. A few comments…..

1. “On the fence,” to begin with, is purely an Olga assertion. I have never said it of myself. I have made no secret of my liking Dave or of being on the committee to reelect him this year and two years ago.

2. However, even for the moment assuming Olga’s charge of my being “on the fence” to be true, it was THIS that got me branded as a bigoted cockroach on their blog! (Granted I was No. 9 on the list, but, to put it in golf parlance, I made the cut!) Now any self-respecting cockroach on the fence about to get swatted would get off, and quickly, don’t you think? Sorry, Olga, I landed in Dave’s camp!

3. But to be serious, the point of having an open mind is to gather what information we can about a thing. To do this, we rely on all kinds of sources because there is very little most of us know firsthand. Sensible people “grade” their sources. If they find through experience that certain sources exaggerate, say stuff they don’t know, stretch the truth, mislead, or even outright lie, they give these sources less and less credence until finally there comes a day when they give these sources NO credence. Does this mean that everything these sources say is untrue? Of course not. It only means these sources have forfeited the consideration they were previously afforded because they cannot be trusted. We have only so much time in this world, and it makes no sense to try to track everything down that unreliable sources say or charge people with. And that is the situation I am in with regard to a vocal few in the “other” camp.

4. A few months ago Olga asked me several questions on their blog, and I answered them. The result was that Eduardo had a fit and took Olga to task (on their blog) for giving me a platform to state Dave’s many accomplishments! What did you expect of Hitler’s mother to say about her son? he said, metaphorically speaking. That had me rolling in the aisles. (I don’t mind Eduardo saying this metaphorically, by the way. He and I both like steamed clams and the Red Sox.) But another “Twenty Questions” to answer for Olga—with the promise of more where they came from?! I don’t think so, Olga. Sorry, but I am bowing out of your game.

In conclusion, my poem. Call it “Ode to Olga” if you want:

Olga, Olga

Olga, Olga, the woman never ceases
To engender strife.
With all of her invective,
When will she get a life?

She’s got it in for certain folk,
That’s pretty easily seen.
In the Reporter, on the Blog,
Watch out for Wolkenstein!

When Olga goes up to the mike
At the delegates meeting,
You know you are not going to get
A friendly morning greeting.

Finger pointing, charges fly,
“But, but,” you politely stammer.
It’s hard to know the best defense
When Olga lowers the hammer.

She’s like the neighborhood pit bull
Once she gets her teeth in you.
She chews you up and spits you out;
Those who’ve escaped are few.

Whether her prey is guilty
Matters little, I’ve a hunch.
Her modus operandi
Is to have someone for lunch.

Oh, Olga, Olga, don’t you ever
Tire of such a life?
And wish for peace and harmony,
Instead of constant strife?







15 comments:

  1. ROTF... I love the poem... it's humor and reality at it's best! Awesome...just awesome. Lanny, it made my day. thanks Santa, the best Christmas present EVER. HO HO HO!

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  2. For the life of me I don't understand why any of you give Olga and here spawn any credence????????

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  3. Lanny:
    Loved the "ODE" Do Preserve it!
    perhaps in the future it could
    be presented as a "Tribute" to
    her "Contributions" to the Village.



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  4. I looked at the malcontent blog early days when Esther was enchanted with Olga, it was revolting and toxic and I have never looked at it since. I still hear about it and I think it is doing a great deal of damage to our Village.

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  5. BettieL, in the future Olga may mellow as many of us do. I have, and I surely have more to be mellowed. If that happens to Olga, I will be the first to change my "ode." Then it will a true ode, in praise of its object.

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  6. Lanny are you into that holiday Ganja again? : )

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  7. It could be, Mike. The label SAID eggnog......

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  8. Lanny:
    Reasonable people mellow with age..
    Highly unlikely in this case....

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  9. In a town of 7800 homes, there must be SOMEONE who can set this to music.

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  10. Have the Channel 63 Comedy Show act take a crack at the Ode to Olga.

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  11. My friend Eduardo says I should be fired from the UCO Reporter because I am not "neutral." That will be the prerogative of the editors, of course, but I would suggest that Eduardo is not thinking straight. Don't all newspapers have editorials and opinion pieces? What are these but articles by staff members who are not "neutral" and voice their opinions? But, to my recollection, I haven't even done that in the Reporter--only on the Blog. I think Eduardo was just lashing out, probably from surfeiting on clams.

    As for the “Ode,” let’s not set it to music Don 4060. The words came to me, and they amused me no end, but I would not want to genuinely hurt Olga, and maybe I have. She is a person after all, and no person should be an object of derision. I think of her in two ways, I guess: as purveyor of all this invective, but also, and I believe more deeply, as friend. If I had to settle on one of the two, God forbid it be other than friend.

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  12. It's a good thing that Edwardo has nothing to do with UCO except offer mouth service.

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  13. Lanny, Capitol Steps wants to hire you.

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  14. Edouard is Ed Ross. He has to hide behind another name to write. He does not stand behind his own convictions!

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  15. A coward is a coward no matter what he calls himself.
    I have little respect for anyone that hides behind a made up name, including the dirtbag that tried using MY name to publish an apology to Esther and two others that would NEVER get one from me.
    Someone in their camp thinks it's funny to do that. I don't. Anytime I write something, you will see my pic next to it. I am not ashamed of who I am or what I have to say. To the cowards, I say man up or shut up.

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