Listen, I have no sympathy for abuse of animals. I had a dog as a boy. And now, as a disabled and often home bound man, our cats are almost like my kids. (my daughters are now teenagers: no so much pining for my attention, anymore). Heck, I had and have friends who like to hunt. I never have. I played softball and basketball and wouldn'tt enjoy shooting animals, at all. (though I love to eat venison – thanks guys) In some respects, I’m sure it’s the culture I was raised in: my dad didn’t hunt, either. I recall his story of once being dragged on a hunting trip. He reluctantly shot a dear and was disturbed when they approached the still-alive anguished animal, which reared its head. That’s not how I define pleasure, either. I am an absolute defender of the 2nd Amendment right to bear arms, and not just for the sake of sport. I’m glad there are hunters. I’m just not one of them.
Of course, I’ve devoted this blog mostly to the presidential campaign of Mike Huckabee (another 2nd Amendment defender who IS a hunter, BTW), especially as his eminence in the campaign has only trended upward. Today is the first day all year that I have seen a poll in which Huckabee has not shown as high or higher than previous publishing of the same poll: an anomaly, I hope, and not the success of attacks. I’ll have more to say about that.
But sometimes, things just poke you between the eyes. Just as I don’t care for animal abuse (and I’m not saying hunting is animal abuse! It is NOT!), as I age, I rarely watch football, anymore and don’t follow the lives of athletes. But on the news this morning, I was asked to resolve this social dissonance: for raising and disposing of fighting dogs, NFL quarterback Michael Vick is going to jail, apologizing all the way. O.J. Simpson went free…??? Other athletes and cultural celebrities have been accused or convicted of rapes, a buses of women, and repeated drug offenses, and gone on with their lives. And, some people aren’t sure if our culture is adrift?
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