October 27, 2009
Profiting from Confusion
As Justin warily explained, we're about to witness two fun-packed days of legislative confusion--at least to outsiders. For, as Lt. Holden said in Operation Petticoat, "In confusion, there is profit." Just so. The line was uttered at a point in the movie when the submarine aboard which Holden served as the supply officer was in port during an air raid. While the bombs dropped and the average sailors and grunts scurried about, Curtis led a detachment of men to the warehouse to commandeer items required to repair his vessel. And now, while average Rhode Islanders practice "duck and cover" during this economic air raid, our legislators will be taking advantage of the distraction to implement all sorts of pet causes. We all live in a pink submarine.
I prefer to think of it as "polishing the brass on the Titanic". One "key" bill that will be debated: whether or not to allow the voters to decide whether or not to take the word "plantations" out of the state's name. Hm, maybe it's more like "Nero fiddling while Rome burns".
Posted by: Chris at October 27, 2009 12:52 PMMarc,
Perhaps even more relevant to Rhode Island is the part of the movie where Lt. Holden sets up a casino -- specifically to rip off the local villagers, in order to get the parts to resupply the sub!