What do you get when snow meets SOAR? Snore? SNOAR! Saying Nothing Of Any Reality. My reality is that snowstorm saved me fifteen bucks.
It got me out of a date I really didn't want to go on. You know how that is. The first date was okay. But the second date was a little strained and the third date was downright weird. Do we really have to do it again?
I want to think SOAR is a good thing. I've been involved, gone to the meetings. I've spoken my piece. I've heard good ideas and seen real people ready to pull up their sleeves and work.
I really am an optimist, no matter what a certain attorney claims. But I'm an optimist with my eyes and ears open.
You see, there's a little voice in the back of my head. It's not one of the usual voices that I ignore. This is the one I can't ignore, the one that keeps reminding me of General Custer.
The little voice says, "Hey SJ, remember General Custer?" And I usually say, "Yes, I remember General Custer". Then the little voice says "How many of those soldiers you think would follow him back to the Little Big Horn?" And I'm forced to respond "Probably not many".
It's not fair to conjure Custer when thinking about the exalted leadership of SOAR, not one of those guys ever led over 250 men to a scalping party. But when so many politicos are hanging out in one place, one better keep an eye on one's do.
At this point, doesn't look like the SOAR meeting has been rescheduled. I'm not suprised. I've got a feeling some folks at the top aren't in any hurry to set another date. Seems like if they'd been ready with actual processes and plans to invest in our region, they could have posted them somewhere. Like maybe on a website. They've got one, it has pretty pictures like a website's supposed to have. But not much real information.
Some of those folk were so blindsided by the President's proposal to release a billion dollars in AML funds to the region they don't know how to respond. While the governor has endorsed the idea, his colleagues from the opposing party seem quite tongue tied. They can't support something Barry proposes! That mean old Obama has put Rogers, McConnell and Paul in quite an uncomfortable position.
Not to be confused with the uncomfortable positions Paul's mouth leaves him in on a daily basis. Not a problem. Since 26% of Americans think the Sun revolves around the Earth, ole Randy always has a chance. And I did not make that up.
But back to SOAR, we know the Governor and the Congressman are pretty adept at catchy slogans and tightly orchestrated photo ops. They're also good at making sure their buddies are standing on the tracks when the money train rolls through.
Let's hope, if and when the big resources come, the S in SOAR still stands for Saving, not Selling. That's the snowjob we can't weather.