News :: Opinion
Email
Print
Making Mensa-Meat Of Hoop-Skirted Blowhards Who Put In IQs' Worth
ADVERTISEMENT
Published: June 29, 2008
Good grief - MENSA! Sheesh, I should have known!
For the past few weeks, treasured reader Bart Siegel, who got his hoop skirt in a wad over some critical columns on the Confederate flag kerfuffle, has been issuing more challenges to debate than John McCain.
It seems, though, that there are some people Siegel will debate and those he won't, for a very simple reason.
Michelle Williams, who is president of the Sons and Daughters of Harriet Tubman, and an ardent opponent of the effort to hoist a giant Confederate flag along Interstate 4, would love to debate Siegel, but alas, apparently she doesn't measure up intellectually.
"That's why I refuse to debate Ms. Williams," Siegel sniffed. "Not to be a snob, I am a member of MENSA the smartypants club. I earned an MBA from Rutgers University. I am a CPA.
"So I believe I am a worthy challenger on an intellectual basis." And Ms. Williams, at least by Bart Siegel's estimation, is not worthy of his time. Could this creep possibly be a bigger pompous elitist?
You know, if you have to belong to a club claiming to be made up of eggheads to give you some sort of arcane bragging rights, well go right ahead, have a nice time.
Tell ya what, Bart. Gee, I'd love to debate you, but darn it, I have standards, too. I simply cannot debate a preening, arrogant, prejudiced windbag. And I suspect Ms. Williams might feel the same way.
By the way, I once hired a carpenter to install five shelves. The carpenter continuously brayed about how he, too, was a member of MENSA. When the job was finally done, all I had was four shelves.
Dre_day - Drawn To Drew?
A recent column on spending the evening with Tampa Police Department undercover cops cracking down on lewd and lascivious conduct in Drew Park inspired a number of reader responses.
"You went to Buddy's an adult theater in Drew Park," wrote dre_day. "If I'm not mistaken, isn't that an establishment for gay men???? Ha! I knew it. I was wondering if I may have assumed too much by calling you a log cabin Republican earlier, but I see I was right on the money."
Dear dre_day, you appear to have a far better grasp (wrong word choice perhaps) on the sexual orientation/themes of the Drew Park adult entertainment scene, so I will defer to your obvious expertise of the clientele to be found at Buddy's.
"Keep hiding Daniel," wrote WakeBorder. "Because your list of enemies has to be only getting larger."
Uh, are you related to dre_day?
On a more upbeat note, salmare weighed in with this: "I live there Drew Park and am grateful for the efforts of Detectives Mark Dinsmore, Mike Victor, Stephanie Haley and all the other officers involved in Disrupting the Cycle of Sleaze," salmare wrote. "Those who appreciate these businesses could invite them to move to their communities."
Well, it would sure help dre_day save on gas.
Soccer Fans Come Together, Or Else!
A column on the rebirth of a Tampa Bay Rowdies franchise, which suggested watching soccer is about as thrilling as waiting for Generalissimo Francisco Franco to sneeze, brought a flood of responses from many beloved readers.
Most of the letters suggested soccer is the cat's meow of sports, a tone perhaps best summed up with Brian99, who opined: "As the world's sport, soccer provides people from different backgrounds and nations an opportunity to come together in a context of healthy competition."
And then the drunken fans beat the living daylights out of each other? What fun.
"Maybe the self-proclaimed cynical old coot will die sooner than later!" wrote RichieMarsh. "This freshly scrubbed chap can only dream." So much for people of different backgrounds coming together, I suppose.
A Tip Of The Hat To Bill James
Finally, the last word will go to Judy Hoyer, who was nice enough to respond to a blog item on her old boss, former Hillsborough County State Attorney Bill James, who died a few days ago at 75.
"He was a good and decent man who affected so many engaged in government service," Hoyer wrote. "He trained many of the people who are engaged in the criminal justice system yet today and taught them, above all to do the right thing."
Too true, too true.
Keyword: Book of Ruth,
to read and comment on
Daniel Ruth's blog.
Email
Print
TBO.com - Tampa Bay Online Member Agreement | Privacy Statement | Work With Us
