Dear Friends,
Good morning. “Grumbles” is alive and well. Each month the six of us meet at the Washington House in Sellersville to grumble about what is right and wrong with Washington, the Bucks County Courthouse, the state Legislature and other worthwhile topics.
But before I fill you in, I have another beekeeper story.
One of the Grumblers told me that my recent beekeeper story (Oct. 25) was so much better than my usual topics … that in the future, I should restrict my comments to funny stories instead of politics.
So I will, although my favorite subjects for polite conversation remain unchanged: politics and religion.
One of my pals, Bill, is a beekeeper who lives in Bryn Mawr. On a summer day, as he was taking his morning shower, the U.S. Postal Service interrupted him with an urgent demand. A box of bees addressed to Bill had gotten loose and a swarm of bees had taken over the post office All of the employees were out on the street, cowering including the postmaster.
When Bill got to the post office, he assessed the situation. Protectively dressed with beekeeper hat and gloves, he walked into the building.
But all was quiet. The bees had re-entered the box because the queen bee had not left the box.
Bill explained that the box had been marked: “Danger, do not open, live bees inside.” The box was badly damaged. Bill told me that the box looked like someone had purposely drop-kicked it.
Apparently bees will gather about the queen and because she was enclosed in an interior box, all the bees had returned. The postmaster gave Bill some tape and he rewrapped the box and left the postoffice for home.
I’ll always think of that scene as he arrived to save the day: that cavernous post office, empty, with hundreds of employees and customers milling about as our Superman hero, Bill, wearing only a beekeeper’s outfit opened the door.
And once more, here’s an appropriate poem:
The Queen Bee, bless her soul,
Never heard of birth control.
And that’s why they’re so often found,
So many sons of bees around!
And now to Grumbles. Because the midterm elections are next Tuesday, I wondered what predictions the group offered? Would Brian Fitzpatrick keep his seat in Congress? Would the U.S. House of Representatives remain under Republican control? What about the Senate?
Four of the six Grumblers are loyal Republicans. They didn’t roll their eyes when I reminded them of our president referring to the porn star (Stormy Daniels) as “horse face”… or that the president calls Sen. Elizabeth Warren, “Pocahontas.”
The Grumblers believe that the Democrats on the Judiciary Committee were unfair to (now) Justice Brett Kavanaugh. (I forgot to ask them about whether they approve of Trump’s pick of Neil Gorsuch for the court but I’d bet that they do.)
Do the Grumblers think that the Republican Party has become the Trump Party? Do they believe that the recent tax cuts won’t increase the federal deficit?
Do the Grumblers believe that Congressman Fitzpatrick deserves their vote because he supports the president?
Put yourself in those questions and examine your answers.
Looking at it slightly differently, are next week’s midterm elections a referendum on President Trump? I believe that they are.
So if you favor what the president has accomplished, won’t you be voting for the Republicans? I have no doubt that the Grumblers will echo that view.
Sincerely, Charles Meredith
P.S. I don’t know whether the state Senate’s leader, Republican Joe Scarnati, did the GOP any favors by opposing a bill that would have allowed sex abuse victims to sue the Catholic Church.
The Philadelphia Inquirer wrote a scathing editorial (Oct. 19) denouncing Scarnati. Will his move hurt Republican state Senator Bob Mensch’s chances for reelection?
