Story originally printed in the Winona Daily News or online at www.winonadailynews.com

Published - Tuesday, July 18, 2006

Search for unmistakable journalism continues

By Paul Grawe / Winona Daily News

Most people in these parts don’t need much of an introduction to Ormund Rodenblocker. He has been, for more years than I can remember, something of the village sage in what has become a greatly bloated village.

Ormund read Eugene O’Neill sometime before his 40th birthday and has been calling himself the “Great Foolosopher” ever since. You don’t have to agree with Ormund — most people don’t agree with him on a whole heck of a lot — to find his ideas refreshingly frank and often something of a knuckleball out of left field.

Something in me always thinks ancient at the 4th of July — I guess it is the picture of the drummer, the flag bearer, and the fife player —mature, even white-haired men, who decided to set this country free. So sometime between Memorial Day and Independence Day, I try to give Ormund a call. This year things have been running behind, so I ended up moseying over to Ormund’s on the 4th.

“Welcome to the land of the free and the home of the over-regulated,” he greeted me at his front door with the good-hearted cackle that now passes for his chuckle.

When Orm had opened two bottles of his “finest” — which ceased being brewed in River City sometime in the vicinity of World War II — I of course asked him how he’d been doing and what he’d been doing.

“Other than girl-watching down at Kountry BouteeK?” he asked. Orm doesn’t give a hoot for political correctness and generally refers to half the species under age 89 as “girls.” I understand most of the women younger than 50 appreciate it — he is a great favorite with “the girls.”

Without waiting, Orm proceeded to ask “how things were going with his favorite cub reporter and those other young people.”

Such a question is hard to resist, and I wasn’t trying. So I told him about the fan mail.

“Well, the good news is, I got an e-mail from some assistant to a congressional candidate in northeast Georgia. Thought I did a great job of lambasting the Fair Tax. Wanted me to contribute $20 toward destroying Rep. John Linder, who has proposed it in Congress as H.R. 25.”

“What’s the bad news?”

“Got e-mail from some fella in Florida. Claimed to be part of a 70,000-member FairTax.org group. Claimed they had more cosponsors in the House than any other legislation.”

“So what’s so bad about that.”

“Well, he bawled me out for being a general low-down, mean, snarly varmint who couldn’t distinguish the Fair Tax from Fairview Manor. For thinking it was Neil Boortz’s idea rather than ‘some of the best academic minds in the country’ doing millions of dollars worth of research ...”

“Well, I’m agin’ it, too.”

“You’re against what — the Fair Tax?”

“Tarnashion, I’m against any tax. No taxation without vexation. No taxation all the way down the line.”

“Well, what got to me,” I said, “was I didn’t really think I was speaking out against the Fair Tax.”

“You weren’t?”

“Not unless I’m for wasting four times as many lifetimes on income taxes each year as we’ve expended in the War on Terrorism.

Not unless I’m for U.S. corporations now paying 10 percent of the income taxes where 50 years ago they paid 50 percent.”

“Well, Son, sounds to me like you’ve got a real problem there. Maybe you just need to write more clearly, make it more obvious to people exactly where you stand. Suck it up, and spit it out. There must be somebody over to the university who could give you a few pointers.”

I should have mentioned that Orm isn’t always very consoling.

So I switched the subject and indicated I had wanted to write about finding a legitimate exit strategy in Iraq. I outlined some of the complexities involved.

“There you go again, Son. Making things difficult, inTELLectual, prissy, mealy-mouthy ... and stupid. What you need is to stand up and be counted.”

“What would you propose?” I asked.

“Be like me. Just stand up and say, ‘Forget Exit Strategy!’ ”

“Are you serious?”

“Absolutely. Forget Exit Strategy.

Exit strategy is for tomorrow. We need a strategy for a day before three years ago. Cut and run. Get out now. No ifs, no buts. Clear, decisive, gutsy, macho — presidential. No possible mistakes there.”

Orm certainly doesn’t have any problem communicating where he stands.

Paul Grawe has taught American literature, Shakespeare, and technical writing longer than he cares to remember. He has done

various types of government relations, and as an ex-economics major, armchair quarterbacks everyone who makes economic policy. He also made a run for the 1st District congressional seat against Tim Penny in 1986. He can be reached at pgrawe@hbci.com.