Why? Sinclair, Oranges, Health Care etc.

1. Why not use the power of citrus to let Sinclair Broadcasting know how you feel about its fight with Mediacom?

After following extensive coverage of this high-def skirmish, which threatens to show Mediacom subscribers a blank screen instead of Iowa's Orange Bowl appearance, I get the feeling that Sinclair is losing in the court of public opinion. I think the company has overplayed its hand.

Then on Monday, Sinclair, which operates KGAN CBS 2 and KFXA Fox 29, rejected a three month truce offer backed by University of Iowa leaders. That sort of sealed it for a lot of folks. Sinclair bad.

As a DirecTV subscriber, I don't have a dog in the fight. (I also won't have TV if we get an ice storm this week.)  But as a Hawkeye fan, I understand how truly ticked Mediacom subscribers must be.

Still what can we do as powerless pawns in this corporate grudge match?

How about sending Sinclair a protest Orange?

Heck, you'll have lots of empty boxes around after Santa departs. Just drop a nice juicy orange in one and send it to Sinclair corporate headquarters at 10706 Beaver Dam Road, Hunt Valley, Maryland, 21030.

Draw a Tiger Hawk on the orange. Write a very special message. Be poignant, be pointed, be poetic, but always, always be polite.

I checked the postal service web site and found that you could send an average orange, about 7 ounces, to Maryland via First Class mail in three days for just $2.24. What a bargain.

And hopefully, Sinclair execs will eat the oranges, which are rich in Vitamin C. Vitamin C deficiency is the leading cause of misguided corporate money grabs. You can look it up.

Sure, maybe this is a terrible idea. Maybe there's some federal law against sending fruit through the mail. Maybe you have a better idea. Chime in.

If you actually send an orange, send me a photo at todd.dorman@gazcomm.com.

2. Why so many long faces about health care reform?

OK, I understand why Republicans are railing against the bill. There are some policy differences. They see big political advantages in carpet bombing this thing, and some polls would appear at this point to support their strategy. I don't agree, but I understand.

I'm less understanding of whiners on the left, who act like this is some sort of surprise or a betrayal by President Obama. I guess they were listening to an entirely different presidential campaign than I was, but this seems wholly consistent with what Obama advocated in 2008.

Granted, the loss of a public option is a big disappointment for many. I supported it, but I'm not devastated that it didn't make it.

This is how governing works, folks. Campaigns are all aspiration and balloon drops. Governing is a train wreck with press conferences; it's making crappy deals, pulling procedural shenanigans, flip flopping, hysterical hyperbole and  flat out ridiculousness. It's ugly, and frankly in this day and age it's a freakin' miracle when anything remotely promising makes it out alive.

And I'm sorry Dems, this is also what it means to have a big tent party that won all over the place in 2006 and 2008. You're going to have moderates and conservatives and Joe Liebermans that you have to deal with no matter how nuts it drives your base. Anyone who went into this thinking those folks would just fall in and endorse some enormous liberal fairytale had to have a screw loose.

In the end, there's a bill that does some important, good stuff that's worth passing. It's not perfect, but when is the last time Congress passed anything even remotely perfect? OK, there's that bill that makes TV networks stop making commercials so loud, but that's it.

Yeah, yeah, things used to be better, Democrats and Republicans used to work together, Ronald Reagan and Tip O' Neil played cards together or lawn darts or beer pong or whatever. It's too bad those days are gone, but that's the way it is. Deal with it, get what you can and move on to the next struggle.