I was working on the final notes for this weekend's blog post when they were interrupted with a conversation about the Congressional stalemate over the budget process. We soon found ourselves talking about the early days of Congress, when dueling was still in fashion, and when honor was something that had to be served. Of course the case of Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts being beaten with a cane on the floor of the Senate by Rep. Preston Smith Brooks of South Carolina over remarks that Sumner had previously made that humiliated a relative of Brooks came up as part of that discussion. (Ah, the 'good old days'.)
As is often the case, this interaction stimulated some additional thought, and I soon began to wonder if the solution to the partisan log-jam in Congress might be achieved by simply allowing elected legislators to kick the crap out of each other. After all, we're already hearing about the lack of civil discourse and the increasingly rancorous debate, why not take it up a notch and let them draw some blood.
Such thinking led not only to endless possibilities, but to many potential solutions for some of our nation's current crises. It resulted in a piece for the Toledo Free Press which literally seemed to write itself, "Congressional Fight Club".
There's much more in this weekend's TFP however, including a massive section on the Toledo Mudhens and their impending opening day on the 14th. (Of course I haven't received my invitation to the TFP Opening Day gathering, but I'm sure that this can attributed to an oversight.)
The weather appears to be warming up just in time, and it seems like the perfect weekend to enjoy it while spending a little time with Toledo's largest Sunday circulation newspaper, the Toledo Free Press.
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