Life? Art?

Hi, guys! Sad news today.

I believe it was Oscar Wilde who said "Life imitates art far more than art imitates life."

The last two days have been yet another example of the truth of Wilde's observation.

Yesterday morning, at Sea World Orlando, the killer whale, Tilikum, dragged veteran trainer Dawn Brancheau to her death by playfully biting and drowning her while a horrified crowd watched, both from poolside and from the underwater observation windows.

You all know that I playfully argue that "whales are not our friends," yet here is evidence that
huge mammals, even well-trained ones, are animals first and performers second.

Today, the Sea World CEO, Jim Atchison, announced that the show must go on, and Tilikum would remain part of the cast. Sea World will open again for whale shows tomorrow.

Ms. Brancheau's funeral is scheduled for Sunday and Monday in her hometown of Chicago with a memorial service to be conducted at Sea World in the future... Yet Sea World will open again for business tomorrow.

Mr. Atchison's press conference was difficult to watch, because all of it seemed to be a huge Sea World advertisement— a celebration of the art of training animals— rather than a period of reflective mourning for the loss of Ms. Brancheau.

At the same time yesterday, several hundred miles north, President Obama hosted a "healthcare summit" at Blair House.

Some forty legislators sat for 7 1/2 hours trading thoughtful and not so thoughtful opinions on the healthcare situation in America, looking at the 2700+ page Senate bill and the eleven page Presidential surprise package released on Monday.

The Dems primary comments centered on "Look how close we are on this. We're arguing about minor details between the 49 yard lines. A minor adjustment or two and we're done!"

The GOP attendees didn't see things that way. They saw the public disapproval, the Tea Parties, the angry townhall meetings and the elections in Virginia, New Jersey and Massachusetts as pretty clear evidence that Americans have been paying attention to this debate and they don't like the idea of turning more of our healthcare system over to the government.

At its conclusion, President Obama made remarks he could have taken directly from Sea World CEO Atchison. The House and Senate must get this done, the 2700+ pages of the script must be used, the public polls be damned, the show must go on. A huge Obamacare commercial for the art of political sausage-making, not a period of reflection on what may be the problem with this plan.

Life imitates art far more than art imitates life. And in both in the case of the Sea World tragedy and the healthcare summit travesty, we are the losers. My condolences to the family of Ms. Brancheau and my condolences to all of you.

Global Warming Retardant

EPW HEARINGS POSTPONED DUE TO WEATHER

February 9, 2010

Posted Matt Dempsey matt_dempsey@epw.senate.gov

EPW HEARINGS POSTPONED DUE TO WEATHER

UPDATE: The following Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works hearings have been postponed due to inclement weather this week:

- The Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, Subcommittee on Water and Wildlife, will hold a hearing entitled, "Collaborative Solutions to Wildlife and Habitat Management."

- The Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works will hold a hearing entitled, "Global Warming Impacts, Including Public Health, in the United States."

Once the hearings are rescheduled, information will be posted at www.epw.senate.gov

Hi Guys!

For some unknown reason, Blogger wishes to underline my contribution today. I believe itis due to the fact that the tectonic plate movements beneath Haiti have just been renamed after a previous President by the National Geologic Survey. Henceforth, the Haiti disaster will have been due to "The Bush Fault."

Here in the Nation's Capital, we are once again getting hammered by Global Warming Retardant.

The US Government has been closed for the third day in a row. Has anyone noticed?

I believe it was Mark Twain who once wrote:

"No man's life, liberty or property are safe

while the legislature is in session."

Given the truth of that statement, we here in snowy Virginny, under attack from the second round of Snowpocalypse 2010, stand ready to keep taking the beating if we can keep Pelosi and Reid from the next round of "drunken sailor spending."

By the way, that expression does a disservice to drunken sailors — when they run out of money, they stop spending.

Besides, I have a SNOW QUEEN to keep me warm!

We should be finished digging out by some time close to May Day. Appropriate, huh?

MAY DAY! MAY DAY! S.O.S.!