Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Actions Speak...

Mrs. Dubya and I were only a few blocks from the restaurant when I started to change my mind about getting the gumbo. It was raining heavily and for some reason that triggered my appetite for some good New England clam chowder. That sounded like a good starter for my plate of spicy Buffalo shrimp.

By the time we entered the place and were waiting to be seated, I was more than ready for some lunch. Suddenly Mrs. Dubya stepped into the bar area and shot a glance up at the TV. The bar was open to the dining room, and we often like to check in on the ballgame while dining.

She came back to where the host was preparing to walk us to our table and said, “I’d like to speak to your manager, please.” I looked over at her and quickly saw my shrimp and gumbo, or chowder, vanish. “You have the FOX “News” channel on,” she said with a distinct chill to her tone.

By the time the poor host stammered something about changing the channel, Mrs. Dubya had already gone in to find the manager. “I’ve asked you before to please not have that hateful propaganda on within hearing distance of the dining room. It’s the most unappetizing thing you could possibly do in this restaurant.”

I began to think about pizza for lunch.

The host was nervously casting his eyes about, wondering what he should do. I told him, “It’s not your fault. Someone should have known better.” Still the guy was clearly confused. I explained to him, “FOX is the right wing channel that pretends to be news while its characters accuse the president of being a racist who hates white people. You’ll understand if some of us really don’t find that very conducive to the enjoyment of your fine food.”

As we stepped out onto the sidewalk, I embraced my wife and gave her a long passionate kiss. “I’m proud of you,” I said. “That was heroic. And it turns me on.”

We decided to go home first and get some lunch later.

8 comments:

RickB said...

Kudos to Mrs Dubya!

Tim said...

I hear a song playing in the background..
Let's get it on..do da dodododa
Ahh remember Marvin Gaye, he would have been proud of the Mrs. too

Weaseldog said...

Cool. you have a strong woman.

At first I thought this was going to be a story about seafood, pre-seasoned and marinated in oil, by BP.

jmsjoin said...

Excellent! I'm proud of her. It sickens me that people listen to that hateful crap let alone believe the lies! We are all screwed if R's get back in, in 2012, keep it up Mrs. Dubya!

Nan said...

Bravo for Mrs. Dubya. I always speak up, too, and ask to have the channel changed. If nothing else, it lets the person who put it on Fox know that not everyone buys into that propaganda. Like that old saying goes, silence equals agreement.

TomCat said...

Kudos for Mrs. W!! Give her an extra kiss for me.

S.W. Anderson said...

Like all the above said, LOL. It's good to speak up, if only to let certain people know there are two sides to the story and they should respect that.

If I owned a restaurant/bar, the last thing I'd want would be to turn a bunch of patrons off by subjecting them to the side of the story they disagree with. There's a time and place, and a meal and/or drinks during a pleasant break from the day's toils isn't it.

I would be willing to make one exception, during early evening. IMO, PBS News Hour is about as neutral and balanced as broadcast news gets.

Tom Harper said...

Congrats to Mrs. Dubya.