What would Jesus shoot?

I've never quite figured out how the Prince of Peace and a Glock go together...

http://lancasteronline.com/article/local/696751_Freedom--guns-and-the-Gospel.html

Counting down with the crazies

Have I tipped over the line into fogeydom?

Am I the real life equivalent of that brown station wagon with the white trim doing 35 miles ahead of you in a 45-miles-an-hour zone?

I thought I might be -- until I spoke to a professor at a well-known university in another part of the country, and shared my opinion of the behavior of the two men aspiring to be President of the United States.

He told me that some of the rhetoric reminded him of that of the rise of fascism. 

That got my attention.

Appalled. Disgusted. Amazed.

I can't quite find the words to describe my emotions.

Mainly, incredibly frustrated -- because, mostly, you aren't talking about the things that matter to me. 

When Obama's surrogate describes his opponent, Romney, as a potential "felon" that seems a bridge too far.

And this is still July.

Out of the playground, guys.

In fact, the whole controversy over outsourcing seems to have been ginned up as a distraction from the main issues dogging us as a country.

That said, there's no reason why Romney's record at Bain shouldn't be subject to scrutiny.

But it didn't take long before one of Romney's surrogates suggested that, in fact, Obama was a cocaine-sniffing foreigner.

Notice how Romney savors the word "foreign"?

I have multiple reasons to be disappointed with Obama -- the potential abuse of Presidential power being just one of them. In my opinion,  he hasn't made the case for the kind of change that is needed to help us step back from the environmental cliff, if that's possible.  

I also have no clue as to what his immigration policy is -- or isn't. Mostly, it seems impurely pragmatic.

But there is something about Mitt Romney that I find disturbing.

And if I had to put my finger on it, I would say that it's his secrecy -- coupled with a hint of arrogance.

Just today, Ann Romney, the candidate's wife, was quoted in Politico saying:  “We’ve given all you people need to know and understand about our financial situation and how we live our life."

(http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0712/78711.html#ixzz2159gRoER)

Are you serious, Mrs. Romney?  If you get upset with this level of scrutiny, try living in the White House.

As for Marie Antoinette, "let them eat cake" pose, it doesn't suit you.  It doesn't even seem as though it is who you really are.

And who are "you people?"   Yes, she might be talking about the press (the usual rabble), but it sure seems as though she might also be speaking of the rest of us.

So we have (according to the partisans) a potential felon running against a drug-sniffing foreigner with Muslim tendencies (and don't tell me there's no racial subtext here).

I'm frankly more distressed about Obama -- because, after the Republican primaries, I had come to expect bad behavior from the Romney camp.

No wonder both candidates have such high unfavorability ratings.

The fact is that neither man is that awful a man (though I am not sure about their pals and colleagues).

Take Michele Bachmann and her allegations about Clinton aide Huma Abedin. 

What McCarthyite time/space continuum did Ms. Bachmann crawl out of?

Historians contend that there have been moments during past presidential races when it's become this ugly.

I say -- so what?

Why don't we hold our candidates to the most basic rules of polite behavior?

We are being poisoned, slowly but surely, by the immature behavior,. and the "gotta win, whatever it takes,"

please the base behavior of our elected officials -- and those who want to put their boots on their necks.

After all, there's a reason that group voters is called "the base."

We are all debased.

If these are the people who are supposed to call us to a higher standard, then I truly am afraid -- for what that says about us.

Right here.

Right now.

One "goodbye" at a time

Sometimes it seems as though motherhood is an endless process of letting go...

http://open.salon.com/blog/nocheapshots/2012/07/16/learning_to_let_your_children_grow_--_one_goodbye_at_a_time

The top...or the bottom?

A random list of what I've discovered in my online dating adventures...dedicated to my friends who may be considering it, or have had to listen to me rant.

 Encouragement, warning, or simply amusement -- take your pick.

http://open.salon.com/blog/nocheapshots/2012/07/05/ten_things_ive_learned_from_online_dating

What went wrong in Philadelphia?

Why didn't the Archdiocese of Philadelphia follow the rules?

http://lancasteronline.com/article/local/679536_Column--In-wake-of-conviction--what-s-next-.html

Climate change -- it's like this

It was very warm last night -- not quite hot enough to turn on the air conditioner, but warm enough to turn restlessly in bed for a half an hour or so before sleep finally arrived.

I'd been asleep for around four hours when the sound of  thunder woke me up.

Wind tossed the trees, their tops moving back and forth in the gusts that shook branches and sent them racing across the lawn.

But it was lightning, cloud-to-ground, that got my attention.

Every ten seconds or so, it would light up my backyard like a pagan god messing around with a giant flash.

First I could see the arc across the sky miles away.

Then it grew closer.  The light on my porch went on for a second -- then the nightlight in the next room went dark, and I realized that we had lost power.

The lightning and thunder wasn't unusual -- but the intensity of the storm was something I hadn't seen for a few years, since a tremendous straight-line wind brought trees down all over Glenmoore.

Candidly, it was terrifying.

Alone in the house, I cowered in bed, pondering what could happen if a lightning strike brought down a tree or set the deck on fire.

But not as terrifying, I imagine, as watching your house in Colorado Springs go up in flames, or rowing down your underwater street in Florida.

Weather records are being broken all over the place --  and in a Congress which embraces denial like a sleazy mistress, the EPA has become the enemy.

I'm shocked by the depth of our ability to ignore what is in front of our nose -- or to use it for political gain.

Let's face it, environmental stewardship is not a sexy campaign issue -- except to its enemies.

The northeast has been relatively lucky thus far --but it's anybodies' guess whether our good fortune can hold out...

In the meantime, a lot of us got a taste of what could happen here once Mother Nature turns up the heat a little bit.  And I'm guessing that unless we were stormchasers, not many of us enjoyed it.

Welcome to the present.

Crazy (in love)

Can you be sane in all other aspects of your life  -- and crazy in love?

http://open.salon.com/blog/nocheapshots/2012/06/25/guys_romance_and_the_sanity_defense