COLUMBUS: Dick Cheney wrote a memoir. The former Vice-President has been on every possible TV and radio talk show in the past couple of weeks promoting it. Each host has been grilling him to find out if he read it.

President Obama is working on his speech for Thursday night. There’s plenty of editorial writers and commentators telling him what he ought to say. I don’t have any new ideas on how to put millions of people back to work. Lord knows the ones I have put out in the past have not helped. Of course, they have not been adopted either.

But I do have a suggestion. He should watch the Republican debate on Wednesday night and take notes. See if maybe there are two or three ideas he can grab onto and include in his speech. That would shock the Republicans in Congress and maybe appease them enough to vote for his plan.

The President has already taken two steps that will save money. He changed his mind and announced that if an old traffic sign can be seen and read there’s no need to replace it with a new model. And our current air standards do not need to be any stricter. That’s good news for cattle; they can roam the range without worry about kicking up a little dust and facing arrest by EPA inspectors.

Vermont got flooded out by the Hurricane, and it’s still raining. But they ain’t complaining. In fact they want you to come and visit during the fall leaf season. The floods only tore up roads and bridges; the trees on the hills will be as colorful as ever. If necessary they will meet you at the state line with an ATV and haul you around.

Historic quotes by Will Rogers:

“Tomorrow is Labor Day, I  suppose set by act of Congress. Everything we do nowadays is either by or against acts of Congress. How Congress knew anything about labor is beyond us.” DT #967, Sept. 1, 1929
“Memoirs –  That’s a Cherokee word; means when you put down the good things you ought to have done, and leave out the bad ones you did do.” Saturday Evening Post, March 12, 1932
“There ain’t nothing that breaks up homes, country and nations like somebody publishing their memoirs.” DT #2615, Dec. 23, 1934
“(Concerning hills) Vermont has got Black ones, Green ones, White ones, any kind, color, shape or size Hill that you want. Vermont has misplaced more Hills than (South) Dakota’s Chamber of Commerce has on their list. Vermont has more hills in what they call their valleys than Dakota can produce on top of their hills. A Vermont farm don’t lay. It hangs. When your corn grows up big enough to gather, you go up on the farm and shake the ears off and they fall in the barn.” WA #235, June 12, 1927