THE SUBJECT WAS ROSES

This blog has been on hiatus these past 29 months primarily because of inertia.  There hasn’t been sufficient force generated by governmental intrusion into my life to overcome the inertia of my generally contented life.  However, as we approach November, I feel compelled to dust off the keyboard and once again add my opinion to the millions of others expressing outrage from all over the political spectrum.  

Nancy Pelosi

Strangely, the subject was roses.  (OK, it’s an obscure theatrical reference, but that’s how I write) For the few of you who have been ignoring the news this past week, former Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, decided to hold a theatrical performance, disguised as an official Congressional hearing, with just one witness, a Georgetown School of Law student named Sandra Fluke was the sole witness.  Ms Fluke dramatically testified that she was going broke purchasing contraceptives while studying law, estimating that she would spend $3000 while pursuing her jurisprudence degree.  The whole charade was designed to distract the American public from the real issue that our government is trying to force our religious institutions into adopting the governments set of moral principles.  In a rather clumsy attempt to demonstrate the absurdity of the display, the conservative radio pundit, Rush Limbaugh, opined that a person seeking free birth control was a either a “slut” or a :prostitute”.  

Now, I am upset with Rush because of the incredible stupidity 

Rush Limbaugh

he manifested.  Nancy Pelosi’s pathetic puppet show should not have made it onto any reputable news report.  Rush gave the brazen publicity grab a national platform.  He then doubled down on his mistake by giving the left a side show to allow President Obama to delay for another couple of weeks a further examination of his assault on individual liberty and his mismanagement of the national economy.  The liberal left has managed to pick up the scalps of several conservative media types in recent years.  Just ask Don Imus, Lou Dobbs, & Glen Beck.  While many believe Rush is too big an elephant to bring down with these pop gun tactics,  I wouldn’t rule it out all together.  The attempt follows a well worn path.  Throw gasoline on smoldering fire  by calling in the most strident elements of the media and the call for a boycott of the transgressor’s advertisers.   Astonishingly, eight of Rush’s advertisers, all of whom were aware of his status as the man who the left most loves to hate, have now decided to pull their advertising.  The one that offends me is one I was introduced to on Rush’s show, ProFlowers. 

 I used to work for a florist and I like to give flowers.  ProFlowers gives me a convenient way to send flowers on-line.  However, the liberal executives at the giant on-line florist, ProFlowers, have done a disservice to their shareholders and their customers by involving themselves in this boycott.  First, it is likely to hurt their bottom line.  As a retired management consultant I see this as a stupid business decision.  I would think that the demographic that Rush attracts is much more likely to purchase ProFlowers products than the far left liberal activists who fomented this boycott.  If you doubt me, check and see how many Georgetown Law coeds bought flowers for some last year.  Now we have established that ProFlowers supports the government’s right to force religious institutions to provide, either directly or indirectly, free contraceptives to American school girls.  

However, most Proflowers customers do not know yet that the most of the flowers they sell come from countries in Central and South America and Africa where worker rights aren't always respected.  In Colombia and Ecuador, which are the main countries that supply the U.S. flower market, over half of female workers have been sexually harassed or assaulted on the job, and the International Labor Organization (ILO) estimates that 20 percent of the 60,000 Ecuadorian flower workers are children.   This bit of dirty laundry might have gone unnoticed had Proflowers not decided to decided to don shining armor, mount their white horse and gallop off to play the role of the defender of women’s rights.   I always used to tell companies focus on what your business is.  So I ask, Proflowers is your business subverting political discourse?   In the meantime I will buy my wife flowers for our anniversary next month from a florist that sells fresh flowers, not stale political rhetoric.