Romney is far from impressive.  His speech tonight was icy and hyperbolic.  He wants the government to stay out of everything but the bedroom.  Oh, and he never had anything to do with the state healthcare plan in Massachusetts?  Or did he?  As Governor?  On the other hand you have Gingrich on a personal legacy campaign based on his failed policies as Speaker in the nineties - now that he’s rich he can afford to rewrite history.  On another hand you have Santorum with his personal and political attacks on the civil rights of American citizens as his obsessions with gay marriage and contraception continue unabated.  (Wonder why?  Oh, religion.)  Yes, I said contraception, he wants it banned.  Huntsman made the mistake of serving in the Obama administration.  That is not allowed in the Republican party anymore, the Republicans are dug in, no more working with the other side, no way.  At last we come to Paul, again a guy who wants government out of our lives, including the military, except for certain issues around oh, gay rights and abortion rights and the voting rights act, that’s where he’ll exert his control.  His opinions are a grab bag of I approve and I disapprove, more like an Authoritarian than a Libertarian. 

I am left with the unavoidable conclusion that all these guys believe America is a Christian nation.  It is not.  America is “a free to worship any God or no God” nation. 

I’m reminded this time of year of what my father used to answer when asked the following question:

Question:  Mr. Campbell, do you ever get in the Christmas spirit?

My Father:  Yes.  And when I do, if I sit very still, it goes away.

Here is one of my favorite Hitchens’ quotes, on the day Jerry Falwell died:

“If you gave [Jerry Falwell] an enema, you could bury him in a matchbox.”

You wrote until the end, man. 

OUTRAGE # 1: I woke up this morning to NPR reporting about the police reaction to protesters and thought they were talking about Egypt when in fact they were talking about UC Davis. What is the difference between a police officer dragging a protester away by the hair (Egypt) and a police officer pepper spraying protesters directly in the face and eyes (UC Davis)?

Where is Governor Jerry Brown on this?

Why does UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi still have her job?

Egypt reacts to free speech with violence.

America reacts to free speech with violence.

OUTRAGE # 2: Jerry Sandusky was seen raping an 11 year old boy in the showers of the Locker Room at Penn State, among other alleged charges involving sexual abuse (rape) of underage boys. He is a free man, awaiting his fate.

If the same Jerry Sandusky at Penn State had been seen raping an 11 year old girl in the showers of the Locker Room at Penn State, among other alleged charges involving sexual abuse (rape) of underage girls, would he be walking around a free man, awaiting his fate?  NO.

Would Joe Paterno and Penn State have behaved differently?  YES.

So raping underage girls is taken more seriously than raping underage boys?  YES.

Take a moment and ponder this: 

An 11 year old boy is being raped by a pedophile in the showers of a college football locker room.  The pedophile says to the mainstream media:  “I may have touched his legs in the shower, I love children.”

An 11 year old girl is being raped by the same pedophile in the showers of a college football locker room.  The pedophile says to the mainstream media:  “I may have touched her legs in the shower, I love children.”

I do not think a crowd would have gathered outside Paterno’s home and spread their love to him if Sandusky’s alleged victims were underage girls.

The difference? 

1.  It is still acceptable for mouthpieces in the mainstream media to spout their demonization of adult men who have sex with adult men. . .  And it is also a firmly held belief by these same mouthpieces, spoken or implied, that underage boys must have deserved their “due” since they didn’t fight back. 

Like I said, outrage. 

HAPPY VETERAN’S DAY to Luke, Randy, Puma, and Morgan.  

I’m relieved that fertilized eggs aren’t considered people by the good citizens of Mississippi as of yesterday’s vote.  It’s getting confusing keeping up with all the new people when I’m walking around.  When I pass a Wells Fargo Bank I find myself saying “good afternoon sir, good morning, mam,” ever since the Citizen’s United case was decided by the Supreme Court.  I would hate to have to apoligize to him/her every time I break a fertilized egg to poach.  Dog lovers (almost everyone in San Diego) expect me to address their dogs as people.  There is a Dog restaurant on University Avenue, also a Dog boutique and a Dog Mani- and Pedicurist.  Everything wants to be a person now, it seems.  My question is, why don’t the people, and here I mean the ones walking around on two legs, the human variety, why don’t they act more like people?  Most of them act like machines, predictable and confined.  Perhaps that’s why we need new people.  My vote, if I get one, for the next ”personhood” entry is every little fish-tailing sperm seed on the earth.  Talk about new people, the Earth’s population would be too high to count.  And a lot of them would be in me, down there, you know?  I need some new friends.      

I’m taking advantage of chaos. 

- dhc

We’re in a bungalow now, a house with a workshop and a big front porch and patio and two off-street parking spaces. Best compound since Vashon Island!

“Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose.”

Thanks Steve, for that quote and its enduring importance for me during the past 3 years of my life. 

Take a bite of the Apple.