Friday, March 19, 2010

Dudes, Meat, Frogs

President's Message

Dudes,

First and foremost, I want to thank Vicki and Mariah for graciously allowing 10 noisy dudes to disturb their evening routine. The stuffed peppers were amazing, the meat was sublime, and all doubt that Leo could host a first-class Dude Squad night was obliterated. Leo's successful meeting also proves conclusively that not every word of every book has to be read by every dude in order for the conversation to be worthwhile. It also proves that a chorus of little croakers are no match for the cunning of Dude Squad "frogmen" armed with kitchen implements and a jar.

The evening started on a positive note when Richard's crutches arrived followed shortly thereafter by Richard himself, who sat happily by the fire testing the thermal conductivity of his leg apparatus. Brent arrived with a little black cloud of government oppression over his head after having been caught spinning doughnuts in the Village of Arroyo Grande. The incident set the tone for the night's discussion which Leo introduced with a moving story of his father as a young man at the turn of the 20th century.

Before I get ahead of myself I should mention some points of order we discussed. Communication problems will be shored up now that I have everyone's email: and I will try to post updates and information in a more timely way. Next up was Bret's formal charge against Sam of un-dude-like conduct for having attended a "chick flick" and allegedly having been the only dude in the theater. No further evidence or testimony was needed to convict him. His sentence will be to read recycled copies of Relief Society books on womanhood. And no, he may not propose such books for Dude Squad material. Next up was Scott's proposal of a Dude Squad shooting outing that was easily ratified by unanimous vote. Details will be announced as soon as I know them. Also Richard mentioned raising a pig and roasting it sometime for a D.S. meeting. Sounds good to me, that would go well with a Lord of the Flies discussion.

And now for The Forgotten Man discussion. For those who read the book, it seemed they came away with the impression that the Roosevelt administration was too heavy-handed in regulating business and the depression was prolonged as a result. Reckless experimentation was also cited as having a devastating effect on people's lives. It was apparent that we are a bunch of self-reliant dudes who are wary of government solutions. That isn't to say, though, that there weren't well-researched arguments citing much growth in the 1930s that came as a result of the New Deal. Suffice it to say that we could all agree that our situation now doesn't come close to the conditions people faced during the Great Depression. We also talked a lot about Health Care reform and if I recall, Sam offered a comprehensive solution but at that point is was getting difficult to hear over the frogs.

All in all, it was another successful meeting. Those who were present, Leo Bunting, Sam Gilstrap, Troy Thorup, Tyler Wilson, Brent Christensen, Scott Silva, Bret Prawitt, John Root, Richard Norman, and Trevor Beck, are greatly appreciated. For our next meeting we will be discussing Tyler's choice, Two Years Before the Mast by Richard Henry Dana, Jr. Discussion will be on Wednesday, April 21 at Leo's house. Stay tuned in case of changes.

Sincerely,

El Presidente