January 22 09 Rotary

Rotary Club of New Canaan

January 22, 2009

 

 

 

Cozy in the warmth of the Roger Sherman Inn, a substantially larger than expected crowd, arrived to bathe in the conviviality of the friendship that bespeaks Rotary … or something along those lines.

David began the meeting in his usual haphazard way and requested Ben Bilus to give a blessing, which was beautifully and tastefully done. There was only one guest, a cousin of John Engle’s, who was forced to introduce himself, because John was apparently polishing up his opening act in the absence of Scott Hobbs.

We discovered to our dismay that John does not have the ability to walk and talk at the same time and our leader made him do one at a time. He then went to the front of the room to tell some jokes, one shockingly at the request of the very ladylike Caroline Clark. The joke proved that that we made a wise decision when Caroline was accepted into the fold because she apparently is as raucous as the rest of the group.

Suffice to say, John’s performance made us actually miss Scott. What are the odds??

In the absence of an actual speaker, new member Ron Balzano, was asked to dazzle us with an impromptu speech. Since he is a lawyer that was not a problem.  Ron entertained us with stories about some colorful business transactions, his background and his current status with Morgan Stanley. An amusing and fascinating talk.

Leo Karl, Jr. then enlightened us about the dire straits of the car industry along with the facts that global demand has dropped by 40 percent, there is no market for leasing and the car companies are demanding additional collateral. All in all a glum forecast.

We have nothing to fear but recession and there will be a wild turkey in every pot

 

Frank Capra Blagojevich

New Canaan Rotary Club - January 8, 2009

New Canaan Rotary Club Bulletin - January 8, 2009

The distinguished, but unknown, young gentleman in our midst turned out to be Roy Riggio's son-in-law.  This was a great relief to our guest speaker, Christopher Shays, who was afraid Jim Himes had shown up.

Mr. Shays gave a candid assessment of his career and the Republican Party.

He said that the Republican Party had lost its way, from the glory days of the Contract with America, when it went down the impeachment route and forgot about the issues which meant something to most Americans.

Without mentioning Iraq at any time in his speech, Mr. Shays said he could have won reelection had he only "bad-mouthed" President Bush, something his advisers had told him to do.  He went so far as to pose for photo-ops with the President on trips and at the State of Union Address in 2008, which is what passes for courage in Washington.

He was surprised by the election results, and admitted that he hadn't counted on the large Obama-inspired turnout of African American voters in Bridgeport, Norwalk and Stamford who would not split their ticket.

Asked by a Republican Rotarian (is there any other kind?) about the presence of RINO's in Congress, Mr. Shays became quite angry, and said that he hated that term.  For those who don't watch Fox cable TV, RINO means Republican In Name Only.  Shays said that this demeaned the efforts of individual Congressmen to come to an honest, independent assessment of the issues they must vote on.

He is not planning on running again.  Some people think he should be nominated to become the next Peace Corps director, and assignment he admitted he would like to have.  He was a member of the Peace Corps in the late 1960's.

This writer was happy to see Mr. Shays so well adjusted to his defeat, and hopes that, with his genuine good will, considered judgment, and manifest friendliness, he will find a role to play in government.

John Adams

 

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