TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Reader Comments Offer Insights Into Humanity's Potential For Ugliness

ADVERTISEMENT

Daniel Ruth

The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 6, 2008

Judging from the reader reaction to the death a few days ago of political kingpin Ralph Hughes, I was reminded of that great line once uttered by Alice Roosevelt Longworth: "If you can't say something nice about someone, come over here and sit by me."

It wasn't pretty.

For decades, Hughes bullied his way around Hillsborough County politics using his checkbook to bend the pliant will of countless quivering public officials.

He may not have owned the country commission, but he sure had a long-term lease.

"He basically bought the commission," wrote George_UCAN. "And used his pervasive influence to make life better for the home building industry here in the Tampa Bay area at the expense of average citizens who have to bear the brunt of higher taxes and the continual erosion of our quality of life.

"Speaking of death, the Roman philosopher Seneca referred to it as: 'A punishment to some, to some a gift and to many a favor.' His passing represents the 1st of the three to him and the last of the three to me."

Tough room, George_UCAN is.

Crimson13 also weighed in on Hughes with: "Sadly, unless you were a home builder, there is not much good this fellow brought in, but there is a lot of evil that will live on and on.

"The fact that state Sen. Ronda Storms is currently infecting our state government is enough to scorn, but sadly there are many more neocons that will continue their influence long after Hughes has gone."

And those were some of the nicer thoughts offered up in memory of Ralph Hughes.

Too Much Information

A recent blog item on a proposal to introduce a clothing-optional pool area at the Arbors at Branch Creek, noting that public nudity is highly overrated, inspired a couple of funny reactions.

"You sure hit the nail on the head about this one," wrote George Dixon, who related how a fellow employee aptly named "Porkchop" passed around photos of himself visiting a nudist resort.

"Most of the men in the photos looked about as good as Porkchop, picture a big guy coupled with ... something small. Even if I was a nudist, no way would I want anyone seeing those ghastly photos showing it all, which was waaay too much."

William Vlasic concurred. "I am no prude but I would not want to assault anybody's eyesight with the sight of me parading around in the full monty - except my wife, she's used to it."

And even that is probably a bit too much information than we need to really know.

Esoteric Gun Blather

A column on Florida's guns in the workplace law, which a federal judge has called "stupid," going into effect last week inspired the usual response of readers wanting to cite every weapons law on the books, along with the predicable - if you outlaw guns only outlaws ... yada, yada, yada.

"Very funny column, Dan," wrote drdneast. "Laughed so hard I dropped my 9 mm Glock while I was cleaning it and shot myself in the foot."

Why do I think drdneast is probably telling the truth?

On balance though, most of the reader response got bogged down with a bunch of esoteric blather back-and-forth about the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling on gun rights, as a fairly stultifying tit-for-tat on the meaning of "militias" and, well, blah, blah, blah, along with one very old, very tired Ted Kennedy cheap joke.

In short, no one would ever confuse these exchanges with "The Federalist Papers."

I'll also spare you, beloved reader, with any more of the ongoing Confederate flag fiddle-faddle being waged by a bunch of low-rent revisionist historians. Log on and peruse them yourself.

For my part, I find them so tedious and mind-numbing, I think I'd rather watch a soccer game than have to wade through any more of this do-da-do-da claptrap.

Keyword: Book of Ruth, to read and comment on Daniel Ruth's blog.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT