To continue on a theme....
"
Mouth mullet". Heh.
Finally someone says something that needed saying. The last time I went through an airport I was surprised at the number of people who were dressed like slobs. Your clothes make a statement about who you are, and the statement that a lot of people seem to want to make these days is, "I don't care how I look."
I'm not saying that everyone should try to dress up like a fashion model every time they go outside, but I am saying people should try to dress more appropriately when they go out in public. If you're going to be on an airplane, why wear clothes that make it look like you're going out to clean the garage?
I read somewhere recently that the 1960s were one long tantrum against anything that smacked of adult responsibility. One of those badges of adulthood is the necktie, and I'm always surprised to hear how people carry on about them. For heaven's sake, it's not THAT uncomfortable to wear them, so stop whining about it.
And if you're on television, you should wear a tie. Wearing a blazer and a button-down shirt with an open collar just looks bad. Looks matter on TV, and if you don't think enough of the audience to dress up a bit for them, try print or radio journalism instead.
Another milestone in cooperation between DHS and the Department of State:
Iraqi Refugee Admissions Fall Short.
My guess is that security screening requirements have something to do with the delays.
Every year it catches me off guard. I usually take some time off in September, when the temperatures are milder and the summer crowds have gone from the places I like to go. That means I'm usually gone for a few September weekends, and that breaks me out of my comfortable Washington routine.
So going to church yesterday was one way of re-establishing the usual weekend pattern. Walking towards the building I saw police cars with flashing lights, and I wondered whether there had been an accident or whether something had happened outside. Then I saw federal-looking people hanging around outside the building, so my next thought was that there must be a motorcade due, or that there was an important visitor. And then I remembered the day: it was the Sunday before the first Monday in October.
Time for the annual Red Mass at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle.
And that in turn meant something else: there was absolutely no way I was going to get my normal pew.
Sure enough, I went into the cathedral to find it was standing room only, and almost everyone sitting was better dressed than I was. (The rest must have been unsuspecting visitors or other people who'd gotten caught unprepared.) I briefly considered coming back for 11:30, but it's a unique Washington experience, so I stayed for the entire Mass. It was something to see, with a long procession up the aisle at the beginning, with various area university deans and other academics in their regalia walking up the central aisle before the line of clergy. The Mass itself was beautiful, and then watching the great and the good leaving the church at the end (
Chief Justice Roberts, Justices Scalia andThomas -- I didn't recognize the others by face -- and even Cokie Roberts!) gave me just a bit of a thrill to be in a city where this isn't exactly out of the ordinary. At my parents' church, they just get an annual parade of the Knights of Columbus.
The flip side of being out of the ordinary is that while other people's churches don't draw Supreme Court Justices, they typically don't attract protesters either. During the Mass a small group of people with signs had assembled across the street from the front steps. I'm glad for
the newspaper article telling what it was they were protesting, because I couldn't figure it out. Perhaps it was the one with some poster about marijuana. It kind of broke the whole theme of things.
Then there are
the other cranks who were protesting for different reasons. People who go on about the separation between church and state without regard to what the Constitution actually
says get on my nerves, especially when talk about the barrier between the two seems to hide a disdain for religion in general.
All things considered, the protesters with the signs and the chants are more fun.
