Attending GOP Convention in Tampa

Partying at GOP Convention

As has been often said: "By their friends you will know them." In the case of politicians, on the other hand, it is difficult to identify their friends. Sometimes it seems their best friends are the ones who wrote them the biggest check  Perhaps in their case, you will know them by whom they invite and whom they do not invite to their big shin-dig. In the case of Mitt Romney, let's see who and what we find at  at the GOP Convention in Tampa this week.

Not at the GOP Convention:                          At the GOP Convention:

1. George W. Bush                                            1. Bush's tax cuts for the wealthy
2. "The Book of Mormon"                                  2. Donald Trump and his hair stylist
3. Catholic nuns                                                  3. Cardinal Timothy Nolan
4. Poor People                                                   4. Wealthy White Males
5. Undocumented Latino youth                         5. Sheriff Joe Arpaio
6. Romney's Federal tax returns                       6. Grover Norquist
7. Scientists                                                        7. Venture capitalists/vultures
8. Compassion                                                   8. Rolex time pieces
9. Mormon Tabernacle Choir                            9. Oil Oligarchs
10. Union worker and laborers                         10. Corporate Welfare Recipients
11. Quakers and Pacifists                                 11. Kalashnikov ak 47 owners
12. Single working mothers                              12.Wall Street Bankers
13. Rape victims                                                13 Anti-abortionists
14. Christian social justice                                14. Christian Indifference
15. Food-stamp families                                   15. Defense contractors
16. Middle class families                                   16. Cayman Island Bankers
17. Coal miners                                                  17. Coal mine owners
18. Ohio's disenfranchised voters                    18. Jon Husted, OH Sec. of State
19. Police and other "public leeches"               19. Lobbyists with checkbooks
20. Palestinians ("They don't exist.")                 20. White Anglo-Saxons


If you were not invited, fret not. Just send the Romney/Ryan campaign a sizable check ($50,000 or more) and they will invite you to their next skinny-dip in the Sea of Galilee. If you can't afford that, you don't belong.

GOP: White House for White Men

In addition to changing his positions on most major issues, The Republican Chameleon, Willard Mitt Romney has repeatedly lied to the American people. It appears that his so-called base doesn't care about the reversals and lies, but some of them do care about race. As far as they are concerned, this whole election is about putting a white man in the White House.

This presents a problem for Romney. He wants to get the racist vote and reassure them that he is their Wealthy White Male (WWM), but he can't make a direct appeal or align himself with known white supremacists. Most Americans would find any such an overt tactic despicable. Therefore, Mitt has to get the message to his racist base indirectly, and since the Republicans have been doing this since the 1960's with their "southern strategy," he knows he can do that with the GOP lexicon of code words

As noted in an earlier blog, Romney began using "reverse pandering" earlier in the campaign by going to a Black convention and taunting the crowd by attacking what he calls Obamacare. The predictable result with accompanying TV coverage was a large black audience booing Romney. The campaign had to be delighted with that video which demonstrated to his base that he was the enemy of blacks. Message delivered.

One of the GOP's favorite code words to fire up the racist base  is "welfare." Although corporate welfare is one of the most serious problems influencing our deficit spending, the GOP spin doctors have programmed the population to recognize the word welfare as being synonymous with African-American. It is then no surprise Mitt is repeating the falsehood that Obama has ended the work regulation for welfare. Although every independent fact-checker has indicated that Mitt's claim is false, he continues to repeat it, apparently hoping to remind his base that he is on their side. Today Speaker John Boehner is repeating the same lie.

And, if these references were not enough, last week while visiting Michigan, Mitt brought up the long-dead birther debate by remarking. "I love being home, in the place where Ann and I were raised. Where both of us were born...No one's ever asked to see my birth certificate." (WP, 2/24/2012) Since Romney insists he does not doubt that Obama is a citizen, why would he bring it up other than to encourage those who continue to claim that Obama was born In Kenya and is a Muslim? Once again, it's all about racism.

Then there's Romney's friendship with Donald Trump (another WWM) who continues to question where Obama was born. Not only is Romney pleased to have the Donald's support, he has invited him to give a speech at the Republican Convention in Tampa. We all get the message, Mitt. And not to worry, you already have the racist vote. Whom else will they vote for? Or is it that you are making certain that they have been frightened enough to actually go to the voting booth.

In addition , let's not forget Romney's trip to England where two Romney advisers informed us that President Obama could not fully understand "the Anglo-Saxon Heritage" between the U.S. and Britain. Obviously, being black, Obama "didn't fully appreciate the shared history we have." How many ways can you say a black man should not be President of the United States?

Considering Romney's reluctance to talk about his religion and the fact that many remember the Mormons' historical problem with blacks, one would think Mitt Romney would have taken the high road as did John McCain when he refused to consider the birther issue in 2008. Obviously, Romney feels compelled to do otherwise.

Previous blog on Reverse Pandering:
Romney's Reverse Panderingering.

Another aspect of Racism:
Palestinians See Racism In Romney's Remarks
Romney's Racism

Mormons and Blacks:
Mormon Leader Speaks of Blacks

Mormons and Interracial Marriage:
Interracial Marriage as Viewed by Mormons

Racist attack at RNC:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/30/patricia-carroll-cnn-camerawoman-rnc-attack_n_1843116.html?utm_hp_ref=media

Buck's List of Wackos

Rich Lott In Nazi Uniform

My weekly breakfast with Buck was not about the up-coming college football season as I had expected. He began talking about politics before Sara was able to seat us. Although I tried to steer the conversation to gun control, he once again shrugged the topic aside. "  Will you give up on gun control. It's a a dead issue, no pun intended.  The NRA has frightened  the politicians away. Neither party has the guts to to point out that the only purpose for an assault rifles with huge magazines is to kill human beings, and I mean kill as many humans as possible and  as quickly as possible."

After we had placed our orders, Buck continued, "You just don't get it do you? Politicians are no longer leaders with visions for the future, Those days are history. Today most politicians fall into two camps, they are either grovelers who are in the pocket of Big Money or they are wackos."

"Okay," I said. " I'm glad you didn't say 'all politicians,' but I agree, especially after the Citizens United  decision,  many politicians  are for sale to the highest bidder. But what's with 'wackos'? What's that all about?"

"Oh, my God! Sometimes I wonder why we're friends. You're telling me you don't know the wackos? You must have been living under Rick Perry's "niggerhead" rock in Texas. And while we're on the topic, he is a wacko. He's the guy who thinks you have to be 21 years old to vote, and he thinks it might be a good idea for Texas to secede from the Union. Now, he's a wacko!"

"I'm not going to argue that one," I answered. "but that's Texas' problem. And after all, he was George W. Bush's protege, what else do you expect?"

"Since you and I belong to the Beer Party, you probably haven't noticed that the Republican Party has been taken over by the Tea Party, but you must have noticed that Mitt Romney has had to change his position on 25 to 30 major issues in order to get the Republican nomination. All because the GOP sold out to the Tea Party."

"So, you're telling me the Tea Party is the source of the 'wackos'?" I asked.

"You, betcha, as Sarah Palin would say. In fact," Buck took a a napkin and began writing, "I'll make you a list of the Tea Bag Wackos and you'll see my point."

I signaled to Sara that we needed more coffee, This was going to take some time.

Buck began writing and talking;

1. Todd Akin, running for the US Senate. You know, the guy who believes in "legitimate rape." He thinks a woman's egg will not bond with a rapist's sperm. The GOP appointed him to the Science Committee in the House of Representatives. So much for science.

2. "Joe the Plumber" Wurzelbacker, made famous by John McCain, is running for Congress. His solution to the immigration problem is to build a wall between the US and Mexico and "start shooting."  That's sad. He gives real plumbers a bad rap.

3. Christine O'Donnell, She was a Tea Party candidate for the Senate in Delaware and lost. She was the one who "dabbled in witchcraft" and thought that school shootings were a result of the ban on school prayer. Not to mention that she was dedicated to the elimination of masturbation.

4. Michele Bachmann. She was actually elected to the US House. A philosophical descendant of Joe McCarthy, she suspects that Muslim Americans are naturally a threat to the security of the United States. But that's not surprising. She's the historian who informed us that the Founding Fathers abolished slavery.

5. John Kasich, the esteemed Governor of Ohio. Ignoring the fact that he delivered the worst "State of the State" speech in the history of  Ohio, he has informed us: "I don't read newspapers in the state of Ohio. Very rarely do I read a newspaper." We could have guessed that, John.

6. Rich Iott. Fortunately this Tea Party darling was not elected. His claim to fame is that he liked to pose for pictures in a Nazi uniform. It's still not clear whether he understood the voters' problem with that.

7. Congressman, Kevin Yoder, a Republican from Kansas.  While on a junket to Isreal with 21 Republican congressmen, he sheds his clothes and goes skinny-dipping in the Sea of Galilee. Although in the past he was stopped for speeding and refused a breath test, he assures us alcohol was not a factor. On the other hand, his companions jumped in with their clothes on. Not sure that they're the sharpest knives in the drawer.

8. Josh Mandel, a superpac-financed Republican candidate running against Senator Sherrod Brown He traveled with Romney to southeastern Ohio and insulted coal miners by giving a speech in a fake southern accent. Although he didn't  fool the coal miners, he did fool Mitt Romney who didn't realize Josh was from the Cleveland area. But that's not the first time Mitt's been confused. He thought he saw his father, George, march with Martin Luther King.

9 Herman Cain, pizza CEO, who ran for president in the 2012 Republican primaries. Among his insane quotes was my favorite: " I am the Koch brothers' brother from another mother."

10. And we can't forget Rick Santorum, a Pennsylvania Senator who also sought the Republican presidential nomination. Ricky, obsessed with other people's sex lives, wants to make the use of contraception a crime.  He then tried to convince us: "There are no Palestinians." He also agrued that the Crusades  and "the fight against Islam" was not aggression on the part of Christians. But suffice it to say, Santorum  revealed his lack of contact with reality when he said: "Bush policies worked." In what alternative dimension? I ask.

At this point I beckoned Sara to bring us more napkins so Buck could finish his list.

Buck waved her off ."No, no. we don't need anymore. If I continued this list we'd be here all day. My friend gets the point, even though I haven't mentioned Sarah Palin, Mike Huckabee, Rick Scott, Sheriff Joe Arpaio, Sharon Angle, Joe Wilson, and the list could go on and on."

Sara and I breathed a sigh of relief.


Other "Breakfast with Buck" episodes:
Buck Explains Chick-fil-A Effect
Mitt Frightens Buck

Or check out Andy Borowitz:
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/borowitzreport/2012/08/an-apology-from-todd-akin.html

Or NYT blogl:

The Crackpot Caucus

GOP: Ayn Rand Trumps Presidents

Cartoon by Steve Pitt, Nation of Change, 8/19/2012

The Koch Brothers' puppets, Romney and Ryan, probably never read  what some of our most respected presidents have said about the threats of unbridled capitalism.

Thomas Jefferson in 1802 wrote: "I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property - until their children wake up homeless in the continent their fathers conquered."


Republican president Dwight d. Eisenhower warned us in 1961 of a specific corporate threat. "In the 
councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or
unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists
and will persist." 

"The growing wealth aquired by them [corporations] never fails to be a source of abuses."

--President James Madison

Another Republican Teddy Roosevelt was also concerned about unfettered capitalism and unregulated corporations: “Our aim is not to do away with corporations; on the contrary, these big aggregations are an inevitable development of modern industrialism, and the effort to destroy them would be futile unless accomplished in ways that would work the utmost mischief to the entire body politic. We can do nothing of good in the way of regulating and supervising these corporations until we fix clearly in our minds that we are not attacking the corporations, but endeavoring to do away with any evil in them. We are not hostile to them; we are merely determined that they shall be so handled as to subserve the public good. We draw the line against misconduct, not against wealth.”  (Underling is mine.)  

A strange evolution has brought us to the point that today's Republicans consider talk of "the public good" to be blasphemous.

Then, contrary to what the Roberts' Court thinks, George Washington warned us of the corrupting power of money: "Few men have virtue to withstand the highest bidder."

On the other hand, Paul Ryan, the apparent Republican vice Presidential candidate, has informed us that he is a big fan and follower of Ayn Rand, the Russian-born atheist philosopher and novelist. He apparently has read and accepted her crass individualism  as exemplified in the following:

"Money is the barometer of a society's virtue." (Ayn Rand)

"If any civilization is to survive, it is the morality of altruism that men have to reject." Ayn Rand (So much for the Christian message of  social justice found in the New Testament.) 


"To illustrate this on the altruists' favorite example: the issue of saving a drowning person. If the person to be saved is a stranger, it is morally proper to save him only when the danger to one's own life is minimal; when the danger is great, it would be immoral to attempt it: only a lack of self-esteem could permit one to value one's life no higher than that of any random stranger." (Ayn Rand, 'The Virtue of Selfishness,' p. 52). (No wonder greedy corporate capitalists like her.)

More recently, Paul Ryan has tried to back away from his worship of Ayn Rand (differing on atheism and abortion), but one has only to examine the budget he pushed through the House to realize that he is still an ardent believer in the "virtue of selfishness."

Unfortunately, it appear Romney and Ryan would prefer the advice of Ayn Rand and the Koch brothers to that of  Washington Jefferson, Madison, Teddy Roosevelt or Dwight Eisenhower.

Check out Andy B. on Paul Ryan

Putin, Russian Orthodox Church & Pussy Riot

fOR THOSE of you who like me were wondering why the female musical group, pussy Riot, chose a russian orthodox church for their protest, I share the following perspective  blog (by Crystal):

SATURDAY, AUGUST 18, 2012

Putin, the ROC, and Pussy Riot

A post at dotCommonweal about Pussy Riot asks why the group would protest against Putin in Christ the Savior Church. I had a past post about that church here, and also a past post about the Russian Orthodox Church and its relationship with women here. Here's a bit from that last post that may help explain why Pussy Riot would choose that church for its protest against Putin ...

Putin's Reunited Russian Church
(TIME, 2007)

The Russian Orthodox Church was torn in two by revolution and regicide, by the enmity between communism and capitalism, nearly a century of fulmination and hatred. That all formally ended on Thursday in Moscow. Thousands of the Russian Orthodox faithful — including several hundred who flew in from New York — lined up under heavy rain to get into the Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Savior. There, they witnessed the restoration of the "Canonical Communion and Reunification" of the Moscow-based Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) .... While the sumptuous ritual was clearly an emotional and pious event, the reunification has political resonance as well because the Russian Orthodox Church is increasingly a symbol and projection of Russian nationalism.

Indeed, rather than first give thanks to God in his speech, the head of the ROC, Patriarch Alexy, paid homage to Russian President Vladimir Putin. The Patriarch emphasized that the reunification could happen only because the ROCOR saw in Putin "a genuine Russian Orthodox human being." Putin responded in his speech that the reunification was a major event for the entire nation.

Nationalism, based on the Orthodox faith, has been emerging as the Putin regime's major ideological resource. Thursday's rite sealed the four-year long effort by Putin, beginning in September 2003, to have the Moscow Patriarchate take over its rival American-based cousin and launch a new globalized Church as his state's main ideological arm and a vital foreign policy instrument. In February press conference, Putin equated Russia's "traditional confessions" to its nuclear shield, both, he said, being "components that strengthen Russian statehood and create necessary preconditions for internal and external security of the country." Professor Sergei Filatov, a top authority on Russian religious affairs notes that "traditional confessions" is the state's shorthand for the Russian Orthodox Church.

The Church's assertiveness and presence is growing — with little separation from the State. The Moscow City Court and the Prosecutor General's Office maintain Orthodox chapels on their premises. Only the Orthodox clergy are entitled to give ecclesiastic guidance to the military. Some provinces have included Russian Orthodox Culture classes in school curricula with students doing church chores. When Orthodox fundamentalists vandalized an art exhibition at the Moscow Andrei Sakharov Center as "an insult to the main religion of our country," the Moscow Court found the Center managers guilty of insulting the faith, and fined them $3,500 each. The ROC had an opera, based on a famous fairy tale by the poet Alexander Pushkin, censored to the point of cutting out the priest, who is the tale's main protagonist. "Of course, we have a separation of State and Church," Putin said during a visit to a Russian Orthodox monastery in January 2004. "But in the people's soul they're together." The resurgence of a Church in open disdain of the secular Constitution is only likely to exacerbate divisions in a multi-ethnic and multi-religious Russia. ....

And more recently, and with Kirill I chosen Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus' and Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church in 2009 (an ex-KGB agent - can this be true?), things don't seem to be getting any better .... Art under arrest: A blasphemy trial shows the limit of Russia’s cultural freedom 

Romney: "Trust me."

Unlike other presidential candidates, Mitt Romney refuses to reveal his federal tax returns, but tells us: "Trust me. I paid at least 13% federal taxes."  Although his father, George Romney, had warned us that a politician who refuses to release his tax returns is hiding something, Mitt asks us to trust him, and perhaps we should trust that he paid at least 13%.  The problem is there seems to be something else in those returns that he doesn't want the public to see.

Being the trusting soul that I am, I will trust him. In fact, since he has asked, I will trust him when he makes the following statements..

 Trust me:
1. Women do not have the right to choose.
2. I like to fire people.
3. My dog, Seamus, enjoys being strapped to the top of the car.
4. No matter what I said in the past, I will abolish Planned Parenthood.
5. I will send immigrant children back to Mexico.
6. The money of the super-rich will trickle down to the rest of you losers.
7. I really need that car elevator. Everyone should have one. Oops, sorry. I forgot some of you lazy folks don't have cars.
8. I made a mistake with that RomneyCare thing in Massachusetts. Too bad it worked out so well for them.
9. Tax shelters in Switzerland and the Cayman Islands are good things.
10. Paul Ryan was joking about his budget, you know the one the US Catholic bishops called "immoral."

Trust me:
11. Secrecy has worked well for the Mormons, and it will work well for the Romneys.
12. I am a man of principles; it's just that I have had to change my principles to get the nomination.
13. I had a friend who is Palestinian. Not sure why we parted ways.
14. I actually believed Josh Mandel always spoke with a southern accent. Surprised to learn he is from the Cleveland area.
15. My wife's dancing horse, Rafalca, receives better health care than you whining middle class humans.
16.The records I shredded as Governor of Massachusetts contained nothing incriminating.
17.You are not going to goad me into saying "Pussy Riot."
18. Paul Ryan and I support mine workers and we will do whatever is possible to prevent any new mine safety regulations.
19. Paul Ryan's family does not need ObamaCare. They, like the families of other legislators, have a much better plan paid for by the taxpayers.
20. In our religion, we know how to take care of our women. We keep them in the other room and make decisions for them.

Trust me:
21. We have to cut Medicare in order to grow our military and defense budgets.
22. Paul Ryan just overlooked the fact that he requested $20 million of stimulus money at the same time he was opposing the stimulus program. Cut him a break. It was only $20 million for heaven's sake.
23. One-celled zygotes and huge multi-national corporations are people and need to be protected.
24. The more difficult it is to vote, the better it is for us.
25. I am not a wimp. I had to grovel and pander in order to get the nomination.
26. I am sorry I bullied that creepy gay guy in high school.
27. I am not concerned about the very poor.
28. I am not a preppy robot. I'm the guy next door; I'd be happy to sit down and sip some tea with you.
29  I love Michigan. The trees are the right height.
30. How dare the silly English call me a Twit. The only social media I use is Facebook.

Romney Reversals Cast Long Shadows

One would think that in 2012 an American citizen would know exactly what she/he is getting when voting for a presidential candidate. An informed electorate is the basis of a sound democracy and with a plethora of modern information technologies, one expects today's voters to be informed and confident of their decision. This year those expectations have to be placed on hold because #1) there is so much misinformation being circulated and #2) Mitt Romney has recently switched his position on most of the major issues of the day, leaving the voters uncertain as to which position he really believes.


In addition,  Romney is the candidate who ordered his staff to destroy Massachusetts' state records before he left the Governor's office. He obviously wanted to keep the public from knowing what occurred during his years as governor. In addition, unlike all other recent presidential candidates, he refuses to release his federal income tax returns. Voters have to wonder what they would learn if they ever had the chance to see his returns in light of the fact that the 2010 return (the one he apparently judged to be the least damning) revealed that Mitt had millions in tax havens in Switzerland and the Cayman Islands.

He appears to be a man intent on keeping the voters in the dark and confused as to his real position  on the issues. He has changed his position on almost all major issues of the day. These are just some of the issues he once supported and now rejects: Roe vs. Wade, stem cell research, raising the minimum wage, assault weapons ban, LGBT equality, belief in global warming, campaign finance reform, Bush tax cuts,
don't-ask-don't-tell policy, the individual health care mandate, and capital gains tax.  This is just a partial list and most readers will recall other Romney Reversals.

If candidate Romney specializes in reversals and secrecy, one would assume that a president Romney will continue down the same slippery slope. A Romney cabinet will need to be expanded to include: a Secretary of Revision whose full-time job would be to explain the ongoing Romney Reversals, and a Secretary of Concealment who would be in charge of shredding government documents.

Romney's Reverse Pandering

After the 1964 Civil Rights Act became law, the Republican party almost immediately became the majority party in the South. All of a sudden the party of Lincoln became acceptable and preferred in the South. Republican party candidates soon learned the so-called "Southern Strategy" -- a strategy to appeal to racist instincts by using code words to assure the racists that the candidate was on their side. Few candidates were so blatant as to make a direct appeal to the fear of all racists share, but they were experts as trying to vilify  Democratic candidates by associating them with feared blacks. Refer back to the Willy Horton ads Bush Senior used against Michael Dukakis. Even Republicans admitted that ad was a direct appeal to racial fears.


Then in the 2004 presidential campaign, all of the Republican sponsored questions about President Obama's background and religious faith were substitutes for good old-fashioned bigotry. They were blowing on the smoldering embers of racial hatred. However, in that case and to his credit, John McCain, unlike other Republican contenders, would have no part of it and dismissed it for what it was.


In 2012, that same Republican dynamic is at work in the Romney campaign, but with a subtle twist. Many have questioned why Romney would go to the NCAAP convention and provoke the audience to boo him by attacking the Affordable Health Care Act. Mitt did not go to garner black supporters, he went so that all the news coverage would be of a black audience booing him. That was the message he wanted the racists in his base to see.

In fact, the same reverse pandering occurred when Romney visited Israel. Some thought his remarks about Palestinian inferiority were a serious gaffe. Many, on the other hand, saw it for what it was,  a blatant attempt to pander to Jewish voters back in the United States. It was a Rovian version of the successful "Southern Strategy." It stood in contrast to Romney's direct approach in Poland where he pandered the old-fashioned way. In an attempt to attract Catholic voters, he mentioned Pope John Paul II so many times many thought he had converted from Mormonism to Catholicism.

But, usually, Romney's efforts at direct pandering end up demonstrating how out of touch he is with the average voter. Talking to auto workers he tried to ingratiate himself by pointing out that his wife owns two Cadillac SUVs.  Attending a NASCAR race (an audience the GOP claims as theirs) Romney admitted he didn't know much about racing, but pointed out  he has several friends who are NASCAR owners.

Mitt, it seems, is much better at reverse pandering. Most Americans laughed at the absurdity of Romney suggesting that 'Self Deportation" is a solution to the country's immigration problem. Perhaps we should re-evaluate Romney's true intention. Perhaps he too understood the stupidity of self-deportation, but was in fact reminding his  fearful anti-immigration base that he too was on their side. He apparently is content to write off the Latino vote hoping that the GOP efforts at voter suppression will keep them away from the voting booths.

One has to give him credit, Romney has taken the art of pandering to a new level.

Buck Explains "Chick-fil-A Effect"

I was wrong in thinking that Buck and I would be discussing the 2012 Olympics at our weekly breakfast at Nick's. I'm loving the Olympics. Although I spend most of my Olympic television time watching tennis, I am fascinated by almost everything, particularly water polo, archery, rowing, and of course women's beach volley ball. In addition, married to an ex-swimming coach, I spend an  inordinate amount of time watching swimming events.

With several badminton teams being disqualified  for "throwing" matches and the questions surrounding a teenage Chinese girl swimming laps faster than some of the top men, I was confident that I could get a "rant and rave" from Buck. Not to happen. Buck's concern with the Olympics was with the "weird"  opening ceremonies. "You know you're in trouble," he said, "when you are producing a visual spectacle, and you need commentators to explain why these children in their pajamas are jumping around on illuminated hospital beds. The visuals should speak for themselves without the assistance of commentators.  Not to mention a fake queen parachuting into the stadium. Only in England would people think that was cool."

"Well, I thought that was good British humor," I said. "But what about this 16 year-old Chinese girl, Ye Shiwen? "

"An old story. The Olympic establishment supports her now, but down the road they will find out how she cheated.  Remember the the East German women swimmers; remember the girl from Ireland? Eventually, years later, they discover the truth -- they cheated.."

Our waitress brought us our coffees and wanted to take our orders. I ordered my usual Boston Breakfast realizing that I would need to starve for two days to counteract the effects. Buck, on the other hand, told Sara to bring him anything that did not have chicken in it. "What about a cheese and ham omelet?" she suggested.

"Excellent," Buck said. "Just no damn chicken!"

"Wow. that was a little over the top," I said.

"Over the top, you say? I'll tell you what's over the top! The CEO of Chick-fil-A, Dan Cathy,  spending millions of dollars of his profits to attack the marriage of people who love each other. He's obviously made a fortune selling his stupid chicken, but that does not give him the right to tell other free American citizens who they can marry. These guys are hypocrites. They spend hours talking about freedom, but they want to dictate the parameters of that freedom for the rest of us. Thank God, our founding fathers were not anal types like these guys."

"Well, it's his money. I guess He can spend it as he chooses. The Robert's Supreme Court in Citizens United  pretty much said anyone can anonymously spend whatever they want to influence public opinion,."

"If you want to discuss Citizens United,  we'll be here for 78 hours, so I will spare you the explanation of why that was the most undemocratic decision of American history. In fact, John McCain would probably agree with me on that one.What I am trying to impress on you is that, although HATE speech is protected in this country, it requires non-haters to speak up in defense of the minorities. The Klu Klux Klan is permitted to espouse their racial hate, but that doesn't mean the rest of us should refrain from pointing out the idiocy of their position."

Sara served our breakfast plates and assured Buck there was no chicken in his omelet. As we we attacked our food, I pointed out to Buck, "Well there multitudes who disagree with you on this Chick-fil-A thing.  Former Republican presidential candidate, Mike Huckabee, declared August 1st to be 'Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day,' and crowds across the country lined up at branches to demonstrate their support for Dan Cathy's anti-gay stance."

"Oh without a doubt. There are many frightened bigots and hate-mongers out there, and they can be mobilized almost instantly when the right code words are used. They were out in force Wednesday with the Palins and the Santorums wallowing in their fear and hate, but will they be flocking to Chick-fil-A branches two months from now, after the spotlights have been turned off? Of course not. In fact, sociologists should refer to this phenomenon as the "Chick-fil-A Effect." defined as an irrational outpouring of support for institutions who are in denial of the the evil they tolerate or encourage." Buck was beckoning Sara back to our table. ''Sara, I want you to witness the fact that I at this very hour on this very day was the first to identify and define 'The Chick-fil-A Effect.' You can tell your grandchildren that you were here on this momentous occasion."

"I guess," a bewildered Sara said, "I should be honored. But I don't know what you're talking about. And furthermore I would never go to a Chick-fil-A. We sell real, farm-raised, organic chicken here. I have no interest in your processed chicken."

"Good girl!" Buck said as he tried to pat her behind, but Sara knew her clientele and deftly stepped back and out of Buck's reach.

" So, Buck," I asked. "You think this is a sociological principle?

"Absolutely. It applies to all aspects of society -- politics, religion, business, sports, international affairs, you name it."

"Sports? I think you're pushing it."

"Two words --  Penn State. Need I say more?"

"Yes you do need to say more. Explain it to the idiot who agrees to meet you for breakfast once a week."

"Do I have to?  Well, here it is. Jerry Sandusky, a successful assistant coach and friend of head coach, Joe Paterno, gets caught abusing young boys in the football facility. According to the Freeh Report, Paterno and the University cover it up to protect 'the program.' When these findings are revealed, students and fans go to the streets in support of the number one Nittany Lion, Joe Paterno. But we will see the real "Chick-fil-A Effect" this fall. Although the football program has been sanctioned by the NCAA and the Big Ten, the fans will turn out in force for home games. Tickets will be in demand and hotel rooms and dinner reservations will be hard to come by. Win or lose, the fans will make a statement of their support and sports commentators will be gushing about the loyalty. But then, see what happens the following years when the team struggles with limited recruiting opportunities?  Then we will see the corolloray of the "Chick-fil-A Effect"-- the initial enthusiasm dissipates as reality sets in. Ticket prices will fall and hotel rooms will be plentiful."

"That may be," I agreed, " but we will have to wait and see."