Mitt "The Barber" Romney

by Arthur In Marin County

(Romney said the incident involving cutting the hair of John Lauber, whom some students suspected was gay, occurred "a long time ago."  "I don't remember that incident," Romney said, laughing.  "I certainly don't believe that I thought the fellow was homosexual.  That was the furthest thing from our minds back in the 1960s, so that was not the case.") (.)

I have the benefit of having been in High School at the same time as Mitt Romney was. We certainly were aware that there were gay people in the world. I also have clear memories of people being harassed for being (1) short (2) poor (3) weak (4) effeminate (5) not as much of a jock as their tormentor (6) smart (7) not stylishly dressed (8) not expensively enough dressed (9) not playing team sports (10) not being popular with the girls (11) socially awkward, and that is just the start of the list that could be drawn up from the memories of others...

What I also clearly recall is that Type A students tended to get away with harassing Type B, C, D and F students. It was sort of not seen as actionable.

I never attended school with a Type AAA student, whose father was currently the Governor of that State. One presumes that such a Young Prince could do very little wrong, given his powerful social and political connections.

However, if a group of low status students ganged up on a Type A student, ran him down, held him to the floor while he screamed and roughly hacked off his hair, they would have been immediately expelled. I find it interesting, since the rough haircut that Mitt Romney gave his fellow student must have been immediately visible to the school staff (unless they all were dangerously near-sighted or blind) that Romney and his "posse" were given a free pass. None of the other perps recall being disciplined, Romney claims (dubiously) that, gosh! he can't even recall such an incident, shucks, sorry, my bad, if I upset anyone by doing something sooooo long ago, when I was so young and so prone to "pranks".

In other circumstances, that incident would have been considered an assault. One hears stories about the horrors of life in English Boarding Schools, where fairly dreadful things happened to lower classmen. I accept that stuff happens, but it is also a fairly horrible story, that everyone involved says they have never forgotten… except for Romney. I can only assume that Romney has early stage Alzheimer's, he somehow never got issued an actual soul or conscience, or that he is a glib pathological liar. I vote for the last option.

I wasn't going to vote for him anyhow, but I hope that this issue gets legs and helps the rest of the nation come to realize what a disaster electing this guy would be. Oddly enough, it often isn't the big things that take down criminals, it is the small things. This feels like one of those small, but telling things. My guess is that about 80% of former students can recall being the target of serial harassment. I think they can clearly recall how it made them feel and what they thought of those who casually set out to shove their faces into (1) the dirt (2) a random pile of dogshit (3) or whatever. It is very much a fight for dominance, between an individual or individuals who thought they should be at the top of the heap, and everyone else. Very primal stuff, one suspects.

In Romney's defense, several pundits noted that in two previous runs for President, "None of his Republican opponents mentioned the issue", as though that means that Romney had been fully vetted and found acceptable to the Republican leadership, so we should just shut up and stop talking about what a jerk this story appears to suggest that he is. But it just doesn't work that way. My wife and I had an interesting talk about this. Try it with your wife or a friend and it is amazing what memories are dredged up. I was fairly lucky and was able to avoid the worst abuse, but I saw others who were not so lucky… and I don't recall me standing up for them, I think in part to avoid having attention drawn to me. I wonder how many others had much the same experiences. I suspect a majority of the American people probably do. I like hearing that the issue of bullying has been given a great deal more attention these days. I am not sure what effect that will have on society, and on individuals, but I think it sounds like a very, very good idea.

On the other hand, I think Mitt Romney sounds like an asshole.

The Boy convinced me that we just HAD to go see The Avengers movie Saturday, and try as I may, I couldn't come up with a good excuse not to.  The price is actually pretty good, relatively speaking, because he's still a kid and I'm a Senior Citizen.  Discount, baby.  All tolled we paid more for popcorn and a cola than we did for the tickets.  But let's not get started complaining about the insane price of a small popcorn and a small soda.  Because if we get started doing that I'll have to get angry, and I don't feel like getting angry today. 

I don't go to a lot of movies, maybe two or three a year.  The Boy goes with his friends or other relatives sometimes which takes the heat off me for the most part.  I like movies, don't get me wrong, it's just I'd rather watch them from the comfort of my old recliner, where I can control the sound level.  When I was a kid we went to the old McDonald Theater in downtown Eugene, and watched movies like The Day the Earth Stood Still, and Invaders From Mars (which scared the pee out of me). A large tub of popcorn, which could feed an entire row of rowdy kids on Williams Bread Saturday (free admission with one Williams Bread bag), cost the astronomical sum of one dollar.  And when the movie was playing on the screen, everyone had to be quiet so you could hear the soundtrack.  But these days, they have stereo surround encompass enclose-and-destroy THX  melt-yer-frontal-lobe sound SO LOUD, that if you were to scream "fire!" in a crowded theater no one would hear it.  Not even the guy next to you.

Now the kids love that sort of thing.  They're in the generation who plays music in their cars so loud it'll crack window glass a block away.  They're the generation who plants those ear buds deep into their ear canal and turns the Ipod up to 10. (By the way, that's very hard on your eardrums and quite dangerous, actually)  But as I mentioned before, I'm a Senior Citizen, and sitting in a movie theater with the sound turned up to thermonuclear is somewhat of an ordeal.  You don't just hear it, you feel it.  Your prostate vibrates and your liver quivers, and if your not wearing your hat, I swear your hair falls out.  But the grin on the Boy's face during the intense scenes is worth it all, I suppose.  He loved the movie.

My review of it?  I give it three stars.  Lots of action, great special effects, and no cursing.  Someone estimated the amount of damage caused by the bad and good guys to New York City, had it actually happened, would cost $160 billion to repair.  Great movie for kids with hearing problems.  My favorite Avenger? Tony Stark (Iron Man).  Played by Robert Downey Jr.  The guy's a bit of a Bad Hat. 

Lost, Found, and In Between

(Big doin's around the compound lately: Buddy, the Emergency Backup Cat, went missing for nearly three days.  We had adopted Buddy from the local animal shelter for no apparent reason.  How many cats do you need?  [answer 0]  The wife had her two ancient cats Rutger and Alex for many years, but the Boy wanted his own so in spite of all my carefully thought out reasons for not getting another cat [i.e.: "over my dead body"] Buddy became a member of the family about three years ago. Now, cats normally aren't known for their intelligence.  We refer to Alex, weight 20 lbs, as "25 watt."  You know, "Dim Bulb?"  And in the case of sheer feline stupidity, Buddy doesn't disappoint.  But he always seemed to remember where he lived after being out in the backyard for several hours, so I didn't worry about him too much.  He's a young large, strong, male domestic shorthair tabby and he seems to rule the network of neighborhood cats with sheer stupid rudeness.  At the first of the week he didn't show up at the back door for his usual feeding, and for the next couple of days there was no sight of him regardless of all our efforts at calling him home.  Day and night the three of us entertained the neighborhood residences with hallelujah choruses of "heeere kitty kitty kitty buddybuddybuddy" to no avail.  Boy was very upset and getting worse, so we went back to the local animal shelter where we'd gotten him to see if someone had turned him in for the deposit [bad joke]. Nothing.  Finally last night, when I was just beginning to have hope [bad joke #2], the elderly next door neighbor called and asked "you lookin' fer Buddy?"  Seems our little feline Einstein had gotten into a storage area in the back of the neighbor's garage and was too scared to come out where they could get him.  Boy went into the garage and called for him, and Buddy practically flew into his arms.  So the idiot cat is safe and sound, has eaten over half a large bag of cat food, and slept in the Boy's bed all night last night.  Awww.  I hate cats.  But I digress ... )

• Actually, at my age things like having a cat missing is rather comforting in a randomly usual way.  Life in the neighborhood situation is predictable - the garbage is picked up on Thursdays, the mailman gets here around 11AM, the doorbell makes the dog bark, etc.  What makes life fun and exciting are things like Michele Bachmann suddenly becoming a Swiss citizen.  Didn't see THAT one coming, did ya?
• There's a hilarious website called "Live Funny or Die" that posts outrageous videos to lampoon life's little silly things.  In this one, Kate Beckinsale, Judy Greer and Andrea Savage "spread" the message that the one thing women really want in their vagina is the government.  Ohgawd, this is good.
• Say what you will about President Obama (and we know that you will), he eventually gets around to trying to say the right thing.  It started with our favorite Vice-President, Joe "Shecky" Biden who actually stood up for his convictions and stated his support for equal rights for gay marriage.  And this statement apparently nudged the President into saying the same thing.  Or did it?  Common Dreams posts a report by Robert Scheer, There is enormous condescension in Obama’s assertion that “I’ve always been adamant that gay and lesbian Americans should be treated fairly and equally.”
• Jonah Goldburg is the founding editor of the National Review Online, about as ultra conservative as one can get without being institutionalized in a mental facility.  Apparently Jonah has learned how to pad a resume' from Bill O'Reilly, who once famously listed his two non-existant "Peabody Awards" on a book blurb.  Goldburg says he's been "nominated twice for a Pulitzer Award."  Yeah, and so have I.  MSNBC investigative reporter Bill Dedman reports.
• And finally, let's check in with the Romney campaign.  As we left the Mittstir he was stating quite concisely in a New York Times editorial that we should let "Let Detroit Go Bankrupt." Okay.  Well, fortunately, President Obama didn't do that, he bailed them out, and now the auto industry is fired up and working well.  But guess who's taking credit for the whole thing?  Yeah, guess.

Weekend Update - Game On Edition

(There's good news for all of us sports fans this morning, and when I say "sports fans," I mean Oregon football fans.  Some of us merely survive the months between the last game of the season and the first game of the next season.  We mope around the house wearing our "DUCKS RULE!" sweatshirts and our Rose Bowl hats and our BCS Championship socks, and go about our dreary dreary everyday existence, feigning interest in random basketball games and the occasional late season baseball -yawn- game, but we really don't care one whit about those things.  And then finally, every year about this time, the Oregon Duck football team puts on what is known as "The Spring Game."  Oh, it's just the Ducks playing themselves, offense against defense, but we get to watch and see the new recruits and see the competition between the new quarterbacks and running backs, etc. Can't really root for any side, but sweet jesus it's DUCK FOOTBALL!  I'll be watching the festivities on the computer on ESPN3.com, but the Boy is actually at the game with his cousin.  Go ... um ... Ducks!  But I digress ...)

• Well Newt's all but dropped out of the race, and the only competition Willard Mittney the Rominator has at this point is someone named Ron Paul who apparently never has really mattered anyway.  Therefore, as Arthur so eloquently put it the other day, "it's game on."  You can tell it's started when you see an Obama ad hosted by Bill Clinton who quotes George Bush.  Bygawd this is going to be fun.
• It's sad to see that the Rominator is still terribly out of touch with the rest of America (those who are not millionaires).  At a “lecture” for students at Otterbein University in Ohio Friday, Romney told students that a good way to start a business and "go for it" is to borrow money from their parents. "Say Dad, could I borrow $20,000 to put up a lemonade stand?"
• Most of us with half a brain are aware that the GOP believe women should remember their place in society and should stay there.  The Republicans say we've accused them of conducting a "War On Women," and they're offended.  (awww)  In a combative speech on the Senate floor last Thursday, Sen. John McCain called a Democrats’ accusations that the GOP is waging a war on women “phony,” “outlandish,” and a distraction.”  Well, let's look at this a little closer with this Caught On Tape article.
• I really don't want to go here, but I feel I really have to.  Remember when Newt Gingrich suggested eliminating child labor laws?  Put the little bastards to work as janitors or something? Now, his biggest supporter, Sarah Palin, is claiming that child labor laws are making America fail. Okay, so you're probably not surprised, right?  The real reason I want you to check out this article is the enormous picture of Sarah Palin included in it.  It's frightening beyond words.  Warning: Have the children leave the room before you click on this.
• According to the Romney campaign, apparently made up of guys wearing thin ties and white socks, President Obama has abandoned Czechoslovakia (a country that hasn’t existed since 1993) and also said Obama wasn’t strong enough to prevent “the Soviets” from “pushing into the Arctic.”  Pardon me but I've been led to believe the cold war ended sometime in the 80's.

Here's To The Waldos

(As of today my son is now a teenager.  He's been going through a "growing spurt" of sorts lately, getting taller by the hour, and appears to be made up of skinny arms and legs of gigantic proportion, held together with elbows and knees.  As I've mentioned before, he's a "420" kid, having been born on April 20th, which has no effect on him now, but probably will later on in life.  He will be kidded.  A thirteen year old is easy to buy for, birthday-wise, because he'll give you a list of stuff he wants.  Pretty handy I guess, except when you price the things he wants.  He gave me a list last week and after searching the Internet for price comparisons I found that if I were to get him everything he wanted it would cost me over $400.  I may be a retired senior citizen, but I'm not senile or feeble-minded.  Turning thirteen is one thing, winning the Price Is Right showcase is another.  We'll be giving him his presents when he gets home from school this afternoon, and he will have to do with what we've gotten him, and he will love us for it.  Becoming an official teenager is not easy my friends, as we all know.  But I digress ... )

• Look, I have nothing against average Americans owning firearms.  I believe gun ownership in America is a fundamental right of our Constitution.  But what the hell is going on at the NRA?  These people seem to hate President Obama with a dangerous fervor.  This article reporting on Alexander Zaitchik's observations at the St. Louis annual NRA convention is shocking and disgusting.   "What do Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, and Barack Obama have in common?"  Answer: "Nothing, yet."  There is a cancer growing in this country.  And it's apparently the racist factor of the National Rifle Association.
• And you know I could go the rest of my life without mentioning Ted Nugent and be perfectly happy with that decision, but when this washed-up rocker starts vomiting his opinions in a public forum someone should say something.  So why hasn't the media said much about this?  You'd think even Faux News would want to distance themselves from this raging maniac.  And why hasn't Mitt Romney rejected Nugent's endorsement?  What gives?  Oh, and by the way, the Secret Service wants to talk with Ted about his mouth.  This could get interesting.
• And then we've got Ann Coulter.  Godhelpus we've got Ann Coulter.  "Ann Coulter says that gun control laws are inherently racist and that the solution to incidents like the shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin is more 'negroes with guns.'"  Ann Coulter reminds me of one of my ex-wives.  Or someone else's ex-wife.  Good grief.
• Update on Rush Limbaugh:  El Rushit wants the "outrage to stop," but the National Organization for Women has announced a campaign to hit the big fat drug addict in the wallet by pressuring local businesses and radio stations to stop doing business with him.  "On Monday, Rush Limbaugh tried to minimize the movement against him by blaming Bill Maher for the war on women, while he claimed that the outrage against him was phony."  What?  Bill Maher?  Oh please.
• If you haven't heard about this, allow me to introduce ALEC to you.  It goes something like this:  Giant corporations give United States congressmen and senators marching orders to vote in the proper direction to enhance the corporations.  Simple, right?  Well we all suspected it was happening, and it's been happening for quite a while, and it's finally been exposed.  We'll start HERE, but you'll be hearing more about this later. 
• Happy 4/20 everyone.  And don't forget to toast The Waldos.

Just Gotta Love The Crazy

(More bad news to report.  Sorry, gotta be done.  Rick (spell check: sanitarium?)) Santorum has finally decided to drop out of the Republican race for the GOP presidential nomination.  That's right, our man whose sweater vests defined an entire generation of Christian fundamentalist weirdos (you be the judge, is he or is he not cross-eyed?) and whose name became synonymous with anal lubricant discharge has abandoned us, leaving us with nothing but a robotic mormonesk stiff-collared nimrod named Mitt.  But wait! you cry.  There IS another!  The fun still continues.  There IS Mitt, but there is also NEWT!  Newt, the little huge-headed womanizer, the Mayor of the Moon, the grand wizard who, lurking behind the curtain, still cajoles us to click the heels of our ruby slippers and find ourselves back in Kansas or some other imaginary place once again, safe and sound. In our Conservative Book of Now WTF, Newt Gingrich is a whole new chapter of Crazy.  And we beseech him to hang in there, Baby.  Because try as we may, paint it any color you want, play any rockandroll, hiphop, techno, grandfunk philharmonic music you want, Mitt Romney all by himself is as interesting to watch as  a JT Wentworth commercial. And I'm being nice here, mind you.  So we join in the chorus of millions of the rest of us when we say "Hang In There, Newt!")

• And only because we love it so, allow us to speak more of the Crazy-That-Is-Called-GOP.  Apparently missing the grand old witch-hunting days when some paranoid lawmakers sought out Communists behind every woodpile, Republican Rep. Allen West said he believes 75-plus House Democrats are members of the Communist Party.  Ooh.  Evil Dooers, by thunder.  What flavor of kool-aid do Conservatives have to drink in order to become documented members of the GOP?  Whatever it is, keep it away from the children.  "Not even Joe McCarthy would have said anything so stupid ..." says Barney Frank.
• State Department of the United States of America admits that it is actively monitoring Peter Van Buren’s blogs, Tweets and Facebook updates that he posts during his private time on his personal home computer.  Mr. Van Buren is a Foreign Service officer for the State Department, and it seems he wrote a book critical of U.S. reconstruction projects in Iraq, We Meant Well: How I Helped Lose the Battle for the Hearts and Minds of the Iraqi People. There's a lot more to this story, read about it here.
• And then came the headline that surprised exactly no one and delighted a great many, even as it openly terrified countless thousands across the deep south and also Utah and Kansas and pretty much the entire GOP. The poor dears. "Homophobes might be secretly attracted to people of the same sex."  Mark Morford reports on the biggest "Well Duh!" statements I've seen in a while.
• We were alarmed yesterday to see that the Gingrich campaign was having trouble with bouncing checks. That is, checks they're writing have insufficient funds in the account to cover the amount of money written on the check.  I'm sure that's basically how the whole thing works.  But what the hell, the check was for a $500 filing fee to get Newt's name on the ballot in Utah.  Mormanutah.  Mittutah. Where Mitt Romney is from.  (...) HANG IN THERE NEWT!  WE LOVE YA!
• We've mentioned this before on Bad Hat, about FOX News viewers being generally less informed about reality than the rest of us.  Well, we gotta add this to it: "Authoritarian people have a stronger emotional need for an outlet like Fox, where they can find affirmation and escape factual challenges to their beliefs."  Cris Mooney reports on The Science of Fox News: Why It's Viewers Are the Most Misinformed. 

It's Wacky Wednesday

(Big Fat Drug Addict Rush Limbaugh has apparently expanded his disgusting personal attacks from college students to college professors.  And this particular one is hitting really close to home.  Seems that University of Oregon sociology professor Kari Norgaard has drawn the ire of Limbaugh and his Dittoheaded bloggers because of an inaccurate description of Norgaard's work that appeared in a UO news release.  It said:  “Resistance at individual and societal levels must be recognized and treated before real action can be taken to effectively address threats facing the planet from human-­caused contributions to climate change.”  Ms. Norgaard was in London last week, attending a meeting of scientists on the subject of climate change, and when she returned she found hundreds of hateful messages on her university E-mail account.  Limbaugh's bloggers spread an untrue story around the Internet that Norgaard had called climate change skeptics "sick" or "mentally ill" and in need of "psychoactive drugs."  (Come to think of it, that kinda fits El Rushit's description.)  Here's what Limbaugh himself said about Norgaard: Click Here. The really obscene thing about some of these anti-climate change fanatics, are the death threats, the obscenity-laced messages sent to scientists and activists alike, threatening to kill family members, wives, husbands, children, and pets.  What is it with these people?  What on Earth are they so afraid of?  Let's just digress at this point ...)

• I fancy myself a fairly decent American citizen, I served my country in the military, never been arrested, contribute to charity, the whole bit.  But the Supreme Court of the United States makes me clench what's left of my teeth in disgust.  Can anyone tell me when this group of people got so politicized?  And if Antonin Scalia is so smart, why does he compare buying health care with buying broccoli?  Maureen Dowd discusses this very topic in "Men In Black."
• Well, there goes a little more of the innocence that is childhood. Apparently the latest Hollywood adventure film concerns turning Santa, the Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny, etc. into Superheroes.  But Mark Morford is on the story and gives us this report. "The Day They Killed the Easter Bunny." 
• In order to be a more "fair and balanced" blog, I give you The Republican Governor's defense of Pink Slime, without further comment.
• I got up the other day, turned on the Today Show as usual, went to get my bowl of cereal ready, and when I came back there was that Palin woman doing co-hosting.  Damned near burned my retina.  While I quickly changed the channel to reruns of "Frasier," I hear that our dear Sarah is still coping with the same old truth-telling problems.
• Hey, betcha didn't know this one:  Barak Obama threatened Chelsea Clinton's life to keep Bill and Hillary "quiet" about his eligibility to run for President (i.e., his "birth certificate").  Oh yeah Baby.  It's stories like this one that keeps Fox News watchers among the most ignorant people in the nation.  And they just keep on coming.