Evolution
John Molino
The president announced this week that he supports gay marriage. Actually, he announced that his position on the issue had evolved to the point that he was now ready to proclaim his support for gay marriage as a constitutional right (life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, and all that).
Well…if you want to be precise, the president was standing at the edge of the gay marriage swimming pool, fully prepared – when he felt the time was right – to take the plunge. Just as the life guard was about to blow her whistle and yell, “No running at the pool”, little Joey Biden, that lovable class clown, ran by and pushed Barack into the deep end.
The story now is that Mr. Obama planned to jump into the water when the girls from The View showed up at the pool. The White House has said that Mr. Obama was going to announce his support for gay marriage when he appears on The View in a few days.
Maybe the vice president feared Mr. Obama’s position would evolve further to the point that, by the time he was on the television show, he would again oppose gay marriage. (Exactly when is someone finished evolving?)
Truth be told, it comes as a surprise to no one that Mr. Obama supports gay marriage. Barack Obama was one of the most liberal members of the US Senate. Recent polling tells the president that more than half of the US population is no longer opposed to what is broadly defined as gay rights. To counter that, other polls also continue to show that, as a group, African Americans – especially church-going African American – oppose gay marriage.Â
Twenty seconds of analysis will tell you that A. Mr. Obama is not a particularly dedicated church-going African American and B. the odds of African Americans voting for Mitt Romney are – in round numbers – ZERO.
It’s also no secret that, while liberals in this country still adore Mr. Obama, they have uniformly been disappointed that his performance has been much closure to the political center than they had hoped.
Ironically, the true moderates in the Democratic party are scared to death at how radical Obama is likely to be in the four years and two months of his presidency after he wins reelection.
As bold as some think Obama’s announcement was, it was not surprising that he mitigated his statement with a somewhat lame caveat. Mr. O added that he thinks the final decision should be left to the individual states.
I won’t dwell on this point because it just might put both you and me to sleep, but, if this is a fundamental right guaranteed by our Constitution, it, by definition, transcends states rights. The states cannot be permitted to choose to withhold a constitutional right. We need only look to the historic struggle of Blacks in America to grasp this concept.
No one should be able to have it both ways; but, if anybody can, it will be Barack Obama. Mr. Obama is a former constitutional law professor; surely he knows this is double talk on his part. Hey, maybe his position on all this is still evolving. Maybe he is close to drawing conclusions. Maybe he will announce his position very soon.Â
When will he be ready to tell the rest of us? There is only one way to know; ask Joe Biden.
© John Molino, May 2012
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Demographics
John Molino
I live in Alexandria, Virginia. My congressman could well be one of the biggest blowhards in Congress – and that’s saying a lot. Despite embarrassing everyone but himself with a decades-long string of immature, obnoxious, and occasionally criminal activities that are unbecoming even of a member of today’s Congress, he receives between 65 and 70 percent of the vote every two years. How can this happen? You don’t know much about Alexandria, Virginia; do you?
Alexandria is such a Democratic stronghold that it is cheaper for that party’s candidates to mail “Dear Fellow Democrat” mail to every registered voter, rather than it is to weed out the Republicans.
The only thing that will keep my congressman from being a member of the next Congress in January 2013 will be if the Mayans got it right and we are all dead before Christmas 2012.
And so it is in that spirit that I want to talk about the upcoming election. One loyal follower of this space on the Internet was kind enough to send me a note pointing out that on March 15, 2011, I predicted that Mitt Romney would be the Republican nominee. “It’s hard to believe,” he said, “that I could lead so empty a life that I can recall something you wrote 14 months ago!”
I have to agree.
In the piece that my new BFF cited, I also predict an Obama reelection victory, which some of you mistakenly took as an endorsement. Please…look anywhere but here for an endorsement of any candidate. I am merely reading tea leaves, doing the math, and deciphering toad entrails.
So, at this point, my prediction stands. I haven’t seen anything that would make me change my mind; although, a bad economy has foiled the reelection hopes of more than one incumbent President in the last 200 years.
The political “talking heads” are now looking at the various voting blocs (real and imagined) to try to determine how the election will turn out. If that kind of speculative analysis doesn’t make you pant with anticipation, you had better join a book club because it is going to continue from now until November.  These are just a few of the demographic groups we will hear about again and again (and again) in the days ahead:
Women. Are there enough women in America who think of themselves as Barbie to the point that they will vote for Mr. Romney – the political Ken doll?
Students. Students are traditionally a fickle crowd when it comes to voting. Actually, their votes are fairly easy to forecast if (and this is a big “if”) they can be motivated to roll out of bed and vote on election day or – God forbid – plan ahead and cast an absentee ballot. Republican students buck this trend. Good news for Romney: Republican students are reliable voters. Bad news for Romney: there are only 437 Republican students in the United States.
In 2008, Senator Obama’s call for “Hope” and “Change” got students fired up. Student voter turn-out was high. We won’t know until after the election if students will fall for “FORWARD” (Obama’s reelection theme) as easily as they were suckered by the “Hope” and “Change” thing.
Blacks. Duh! What do you think?
Mormons. Duh, again! While Mormons do baptize the dead, historically in America, the deceased have been very reliable Democratic voters.
Catholics. Will Catholics vote as a bloc for either candidate? Will they support the seemingly religion-less incumbent or his Mormon challenger? Keep in mind, most Catholics’ idea of a Mormon is a 20-something kid on a bicycle, in a short-sleeved white shirt and a clip-on tie.
Latinos. Geore W. Bush won the Latino vote when he ran for President. Today, Mr. Obama enjoys a commanding lead among Latinos. Rumor has it that the only time Romney got a favorable response from a group of Latinos was when he gave a big tip to the day laborers who did yard work for him in San Diego.
The analysis and guessing will continue. The outcome will not be certain until our votes are counted. Until then, soak it all in for the entertainment value.Â
I’m not sure what demographic I fit into. I’m thinking it’s the “Grouchy, Old, Curmudgeon” group and if my congressman’s reelection depends on the vote of my demographic…he’s toast!
© John Molino, May 2012
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Health Warnings
John Molino
Not long ago, the American Cancer Society released a study indicating that dental x-rays are linked to brain tumors. Look, doc, I’ll floss; I promise! Just don’t give me a brain tumor!!
I found this report very hard to believe. I’ve known my dentist for nearly twenty years. He’s a nice guy. He sings in a barber shop quartet, for God’s sake. He wouldn’t give me a brain tumor…would he?
Then, I heard the mitigating part of the story that made it somewhat more believable: these tumors are almost always benign. That’s more like my dentist. Benign.
This story was just another in a long line of reports and studies telling us that almost everything in our daily lives has the potential to kill us. This particular study identified tumors in patients who received x-rays forty years ago in much higher doses than are used today. How relevant can this study be? How many of these people still have their own teeth?
Recently, the highly respected NIH (National Institutes of Health) had a good deal to say about cell phones. The breaking news was that cell phone usage can alter the human brain. I immediately thought of at least a dozen people I know for whom this news comes a bit too late.
The NIH told us that cell phones stress the brain cells closest to the phone and that the stress is greater with increased usage. We are left to conclude that the stress is a bad thing; though, I suppose the alterations caused by the stress could result in improvements to the brain.
Then I thought about those same dozen people…Nah! Besides, when has the NIH ever released a study that contained good news? I’m surprised they didn’t link the use of Bluetooth devices to the development of brain-altering earwax. Damn that earwax!
I know who pays for these studies – you and me…with our tax dollars. I don’t think we are getting our money’s worth. Oh, I keep hoping that somewhere down the trail there will be a meaningful scientific finding that comes from this kind of research but, in the case of cell phones, I don’t need no stinking research!
Let’s go over this again: the NIH says that cell phone usage can alter the human brain. Really? Did we need a study to tell us this? Have you ever overheard people talking on cell phones?
Some…too few…speak softly and limit themselves to very brief conversations. The ideal: “I’m on the train. I’ll see you at the station in 35 minutes.”
Others…too many…talk loudly and endlessly. They ramble. They speak in meaningless phrases. These are the people you would rather not overhear, but they are so loud and so persistent, you can’t help but listen. And when you listen, there’s no doubting that the NIH is correct – clearly there has already been significant brain damage.
These folks clutter what could otherwise be wonderful silence and calm. In the end, they confirm one of the universal truths:
Those who talk the most, have the least to say.
© John Molino, April 2012
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