For a while there, it looked like Ye Olde Sun Gazette was going to be the only institutional of repute (or perhaps “ill repute”) pressing the Arlington government to get libraries reopened with some semblance of urgency.
It was a lonely endeavor. The county government (motto: “lockdowns today, lockdowns tomorrow, lockdowns forever!”) gave off the vibe that it couldn’t have cared less. Despite a few letters to the editor, the greater public, which has been numbed into a state of docile acceptance of COVID-related restrictions whether sane or not, went along to get along and did not raise a ruckus.
Finally, however, we got some help.
On Saturday, the board of Friends of the Arlington Public Library blasted the county government to its very face (electronically-speaking) at the County Board meeting. In no uncertain terms, the organization (not generally known as a group of bomb-throwers) blasted the county government for multiple failures in setting the stage for an expeditious, safe reopening.
County Board members threw the hot-potato in the lap of County Manager Mark Schwartz, who while seated did the best disco-dancing he could to try and wriggle out from under the barrage.
Fact is, the county government’s top echelon always has seemed to have little respect for the talented and hard-working library staff and has always tried to stick it to the library system at budget time, so it’s no surprise library reopening did not get any priority in the past year. It’s good to know we were not alone in thinking that was a sad state of affairs, although it would have been nicer to have seen the outrage earlier.
CHUCK, CHUCK, CHUCK, ASK SOME TOUGHIES, WILL YA? A member of our staff tries to watch “Meet the Press” whenever Dr. Fauci is on, largely just to elevate his blood pressure and get madder and madder as Chuck Todd and the good doctor blather on about nothing particularly relevant to our current situation.
Here’s a question Chuck could have asked: “Dr. Fauci, do you believe that on Aug. 24-25, the Biden administration rolled out its now-discredited ‘everyone needs a booster shot’ broadside in an effort to distract from the problems in Afghanistan?”
The answer is self-evident, but had it been asked, one wouldn’t exactly expect Fauci to come out and admit it: “Yes, Chuck, this was clearly a misdirection play designed to get the media and American people off Biden’s case. And it worked, you rubes!”
Would have been refreshing had it happened, though.
Gotta say, nothing personal again Chuck Todd; my one and only interaction with him (at an Arlington Free Clinic gala) was quite pleasant. But until he starts throwing some heat, baseball-wise, in the direction of the still-sainted (but by an ever-declining percentage of the population) Fauci, he’s going to remain stuck as just my second favorite living “Chuck” behind Woolery.
(Nobody, living or dead, is ever going to top my all-time favorite Chucks: Chuck Berry, Chuck Barris and Charles Nelson “Chuck” Reilly.)
- Scott McCaffrey