Well, tis Christmas Eve. Bacchanalia. First night of Hanukkah.
So, make merry. Even if you don't do God or Gods or Goddesses, everyone should have an excuse to make merry betimes.
And remember, in life, you can be Scrooge, or you can be Fezziwig, it's your choice.
So, Happy Holidays.
Merry Christmas !
and so on!

Best Wishes to you and yours.
- DLC

A last minute plea for the Republic.

Friends, I do not usually indulge in panic, and I'm not going to now. But I want to talk to you about a problem that threatens the very heart of our Republic. 

I am speaking about this incident of the Russian hacking of, and interference in, the late Presidential election. Here, I speak not as a partisan, but as an American. The current way in which the United States of America selects who is to be President and Vice President of the United States is complex, but it boils down to this:  The people vote to choose partisan Electors who then meet after the election in what's called The Electoral College. This body was created originally to prevent some influential demagogue -- a leader in a democracy who gains popularity by exploiting prejudice and ignorance among the common people, whipping up the passions of the crowd and shutting down reasoned deliberation -- from seizing power. It was also intended to limit the possible influence of foreign powers in American internal politics. In this instance we have both of those problems. We have Donald J Trump, the demagogue's demagogue, doing all of those things in the definition. But it's the second thing that is really important:

Time for the missing man formation, sadly.

Word has reached me of the passing of Senator John Glenn. Marine fighter pilot with 59 combat missions in the south pacific in WW2 and 63 in F-9 Panthers over Korea, with a further 27 in F-86 Sabres. In combination, between his wartime service and his years as an astronaut, Glenn was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross Six times. Perhaps one dark spot on his illustrious career was his refusal to support the concept of women astronauts, until much later in life, when he is said to have mentored the career of mission specialist Judy Resnik.  Glenn would himself return to space in 1998, when he flew on STS 95 as a payload specialist, becoming the oldest man in space at age 77.
A mostly brilliant and mostly honorable career by a man who never stopped to ask the cost, he just stepped forward with his hand up, the words "I'll go" on his lips.
We thank you, John Herschel Glenn Jr., for a lifetime of service and dedication to duty, and a spirit of American exceptionalism. Farewell, my fellow Ohioan.
My most sincere condolences to his family and friends.

Harvard Post-Election Forum

Just taking a moment to put down a few thoughts about the recent Harvard Post-Election Forum :

Recently, campaign staffers for Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump met at Harvard University for a post election forum. These meetings are what usually goes on after Presidential elections, and are put on by Harvard for the benefit of their students. This year was different, however, as staffers for both sides quickly allowed the meeting to devolve into a shouting match, when such meetings are usually at least civil, if not cordial. Well, what happened is this : Trump's people just had to rub salt in the wounds. They had to. Led by Trump mouthpiece Kelly-Anne Conway, they had to crow and strut and yell the equivalent of  "take that, bitches!". (more after the jump)

In sickness and in health, racism still sucks.

In 2012 I had a nasty case of Colitis. After 2 days of misery I was compelled to head to the Emergency Dept. of the local hospital (Banner Thunderbird) where I was treated by a professional, friendly and mostly polite staff who treated me with respect and granted me as much human dignity as they could. (with someone having bloody diarrhea every 30 or so minutes it couldn't have been easy or pleasant, even though I made it to the toilet on my own every time.) But what I want to focus on is this: the woman who did my x-rays was of middle-eastern descent and did her job while wearing a Muslim head-scarf. I did not berate her for following her religious dogma, or tell her she was a terrorist, or yell at her and tell her to get out of "my" country. You see, even though I do not personally agree with the dictates of Islam, and I believe it is a restrictive, misogynistic religion, I am an American. A USA-Ian if you prefer. I was brought up to believe in the Constitution of the United States, and I was taught that A person's religion does not matter so long as it does not interfere with the performance of their duties at their job or influence adversely how they interact with other Americans. (USA-Ians if you prefer.) This woman clearly did not worry that I was not a Muslim. She did not care. She did her job efficiently and with a friendly demeanor. I thanked her for doing a good job, and she nodded back at me and went about her business. So, here's a lesson for those of you who think "Now that Trump's won we can get rid of all this "political correctness" and say what we think about these *people* : No, you can't. You can hate all you want and nobody will stop you. But if you act on your hate and indulge in verbal or physical abuse, you will be stopped. If not by police, by me. I'm old and not the man I used to be, but I will stand between you and them and defy you to scream at me. I'm an old Wolf but I am still a Wolf and I will not stand by while you act like a sniveling coward. You may have some vestige of the courage of your convictions but you have no real courage, or you would do as I do and walk without fear in the world, and nod to all in passing, without allowing your fear to chase you into anger at someone merely for what religion they follow or how they dress or who were their ancestors. Grow up. Grow some spine, and remember, if you cannot be welcoming to all, you can at least be tolerant of all.

V for Vendetta

 V for Vendetta is a political thriller in which a mystery man wearing a Guy Fawkes mask fights to overturn a totalitarian religio-fascist government. The action culminates, not in the destruction of the Monarch that Guy Fawkes wanted  but in the destruction of the houses of Parliament, the overturning of the Sutler government and lots of mayhem. Oh, and V dies in the end.
Well, this is November 5th, 2016. In 3 days the United States will elect a new President.
Regardless of who is elected it will be a major turning point in the course of American history.
I'm going to lay aside partisanship for a moment, and pretend that I do not endorse either candidate.

Guy Fawkes Day.

Today is the 5th of November, the day in which the English celebrate Guy Fawkes day, and have Bonfire Night. In modern times it's really Bonfire Night which everyone gets worked up about. They have parties, and bonfires and fireworks, and there is much merrymaking. If you're interested in learning more about Guy Fawkes and why they have a holiday in his name, I recommend wikipedia's entries for Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes Night.