Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, too

Long before Fox News began its wildly popular "war on Christmas," Americans had willingly conceded victory to Santa Claus.

And why not. He's jolly, dresses well and is oh, so generous.

Granted, he's more generous to some than others, but that's because some people are more equal than others.

And, even Santa Claus is not immune from ridicule.

Who could forget the "Sanity Clause" from "A Night at the Opera."

The point is, people who send out Christmas cards that say "Happy Holidays" or "Season's Greetings" aren't trying to offend anyone.

They're just trying to spread some holiday cheer.

That's not a bad thing.

As we all know, the dating of the birth of Jesus on Dec. 25 emerged sometime in the 4th century from winter solstice commemorations where festivals of lights and gift-giving meant to celebrate that brighter, and certainly longer, days were ahead.

Of course, there were discrepancies as to the actual date depending if one used the Julian or the Gregorian calendar.

It gets complicated.

Also, the reverent use of Xmas dates back to the earliest days of Christianity.

That is why it's best to believe in the best intentions of well-wishers, even that guy with the zombie Nativity scene in Ohio. Okay, maybe that's a bad example. What's with this zombie craze anyway.

Perhaps Calvin Coolidge said it best:

"Christmas is not a time nor a season, but a state of mind. To cherish peace and goodwill, to be plenteous in mercy, is to have the real spirit of Christmas."

Who knew that a president known as "Silent Cal," and who helped lead us into the Great Depression, could be so pithy. Then again, he was a Congregationalist, but I'm not sure what that means.

Safe to say that Christmas means different things to different people.

 I'd like to think it's a time to set aside differences and get along, at least for one day. British and German Soldiers did that 100 years ago today in Belgium and France.

Even the stingy hearts of Scrooge and the Grinch gave way to generosity.

We can try to believe that the best things in life aren't things. Admittedly, I have so many things that I could build a giant thingamajig with them. And, just as useful.

I know, Yoda once said, "Do or do not. There is no try."

But, Yoda had a weird way of saying things.

One thing I know, Yoda is no "Sanity Clause."

Even Jesus Christ would agree with that.

On torture and 'The Interview'

Canceled, at least for now

As MMXIV draws to a close, we can say goodbye to a regrettable and ridiculous year.

First, the regret.

The Senate finally released its long overdue report on the torture practices of this country and the responses were predictable.

Never mind that torture doesn't even work.

In fact, the opposite approach -- gaining the trust of the prisoner -- produces "actionable intelligence."

Leave it to Dick Cheney to vigorously support such a terrible practice. He boasted that "he'd do it again."

Cheney never tortured anyone. He's too much of a chicken-shit chicken-hawk to ever put his money where his mouth is. He repeatedly dodged serving in the military during the Vietnam War, yet claims that war was worthwhile.

Leave it John McCain to become the voice of reason when he said, "the use of torture compromises that which most distinguishes us from our enemies, our belief that all people, even captured enemies, possess basic human rights."

In other words, we forsake our "exceptionalism" when we torture.

Unlike Cheney, McCain actually served in Vietnam, was captured and brutally tortured.

Aside from the political posturing over the release of the report, most Americans shrugged. We've moved on and we don't want to think about those dark days after 9/11. We're busy shopping for Christmas.

Ten years ago, when these torture stories first trickled out, a slight majority of Americans were opposed to the use of torture. Today, a slight majority now deems torture acceptable.

Why the change in attitude?

Well, we can thank the Fox TV show, "24," and others, where torture was portrayed and deemed effective.

Incredibly, we turn to fiction instead of facts to justify our actions.

Which leads us to the ridiculous.

Who would think that a funny, little movie about assassinating a real leader of a foreign country would cause any problems?

Evidently, Sony Pictures didn't think much of it when "The Interview" was given the go-ahead.

Unfortunately, that leader is Kim Jong-Un, the newest tyrannical ruler of North Korea, the worst country on the planet.

Even though Kim and most of the North Korean leadership deserve to be shot, it's best not to telegraph it by way of a movie.

As the film neared its release date, North Koreans hacked Sony Pictures' computers and stole digital copies of movies and some embarrassing e-mails, which revealed how inept Sony Pictures' leaders are.

The North Koreans threatened 9/11 type terrorism on any theater that showed "The Interview."

Now, the North Koreans are always making empty threats against us or South Korea or anyone.

Yet, the North Koreans have attacked South Koreans over the years and they are crazy enough to do something monstrous.

Which is why Sony canceled the Christmas day release of "The Interview," after theater owners balked at showing the film.

Now, theater chains don't really care about the safety of their patrons. They just don't want to be sued for mega-millions if something terrible happened.

If Batman provoked homegrown terrorism in Colorado, what would "The Interview" incite?

Probably not much.

I giggled when I saw previews for this movie in the same way I laughed about the reaction to Roseanne Barr's crude rendition of the National Anthem at a baseball game in the 1990s.

I mean, what did people expect?

Afterall, "The Interview" was co-written by Seth Rogen, who also co-stars in the film.

Rogen is known for crude, rude and offensive comedy.

He's no Charlie Chaplin, who made "The Great Dictator," a parody of Hitler, in 1940, before U.S. involvement in World War II.

Unlike "The Interview," Chaplin's classic used fictional names for Hitler and Germany. Yet, Chaplin's famous mustache made him look similar to Hitler.

In his 1964 autobiography, Chaplin stated the he would not have made the film had he known about the actual horrors of the Nazi concentration camps.

In America, we've got the freedom to say and do some outrageous things.

And, that shouldn't change.

But, there are consequences if you cross the line, which, admittedly, is drawn in sand.

That said, I do want to see "The Interview" now, if only as a protest against the North Korean threat.

Maybe that's Sony's marketing ploy after all.

Actually, it appears that stupidity is the more apt description.

Unlike Colbert, America sees race

The incomparable Stephen Colbert, of the eponymous "The Colbert Report," almost always tells his African-American guests that he doesn't see race. Not even his own. Some people tell him that he's white and he takes their word for it.

With last week's announcement from President Obama that his administration would delay deportation for as many as 5 million illegal aliens in America coupled with this week's grand jury decision clearing a cop of killing of an unarmed black man in Missouri, we are seeing nothing but race.

It's who we are.

Instead of a "post-racial" America that some saw after President Obama's election in 2008, we are firmly in the grip of racial hatred once again.

The immigration issue, though, reminds me of the Woody Allen joke from "Annie Hall":

"This guy goes to a psychiatrist and says, 'Doc, uh, my brother's crazy; he thinks he's a chicken.' And, uh, the doctor says, 'Well, why don't you turn him in?' The guy says, 'I would, but I need the eggs.'"

We have this crazy love-hate thing going with hispanics, particularly Mexicans. We love their food, but mostly we love how cheaply they will do manual labor. 

And, it's no longer just farm work or house cleaning. Hispanics now do most construction jobs in California. Even in Bend, roofing companies hire Mexicans because they can pay them less than white Americans.

And yes, many companies that employ/exploit Mexicans are the same ones that then turn around and rail against our government for letting all these illegal immigrants into this country. Is that not crazy?

Without cheap hispanic labor, this country's economy would collapse. 

Like many cultures, we need to exploit many workers to benefit others. 

Afterall, this country was founded on the principle of slavery, which was unpaid, forced labor. 

Yes, it is true that having so many undocumented people living in this country causes some problems, but we are willing to endure the closure of some hospital emergency rooms or the exploitation of our government's social services just so we can keep the hedges trimmed or the pool cleaned at such a bargain.

The problem isn't them, it is us.

President Obama set a trap for Republicans and they were eager to fall for it. Their hatred for Mexicans came shining through. Not exactly a winning strategy.

As for the tragic case in Ferguson, Mo., where yet another police officer shot yet another unarmed black man, the media is fanning the flames there.

Afterall, it is sweeps month, when the networks set their advertising rates based on viewership during November. Riots make for strong visuals or so they think.

Any casual viewer of cable news or listener of talk radio or reader of comments after stories on the web, can realize that racism is alive and well. 

The disgruntlement after President Obama's re-election has turned into vocal outrage. 

Nevermind that the stock market is at record highs or the economy has rebounded. An alarming number of white Americans feel threatened by people who don't look like them. 

This is also a byproduct of the escalating income gap, but that's another story.

The bottom line is that we are crazy. And, we need the eggs.

Terrible response to dealing with Bend's snowfall

Bend was hit with a rare, but not unprecedented, snowstorm last week and the city, predictably, acted too late with a lackluster response.

It's a mess getting around town with huge snow ruts making driving treacherous.

It's not surprising that Bend struggles to clear roadways in a timely manner. Afterall, the city waits about a year to patch deep potholes.

Why do city leaders care so little for the safety of its citizens or visitors?

Well, they budget too little for snow removal and road repair.

A story in the local daily newspaper revealed that a quarter of the city's snow-clearing fleet was broken down. Plus, the city only budgeted between $300,000 to $400,000 to clear the roads during winter.

This means that there is no other money to clear the mounds of snow in front of residential driveways caused by city snowplows.

This left one 72-year-old man, who has to carry around an oxygen tank to breathe, with a snow mound more than 6 feet high in front of his driveway, according to the daily newspaper.

And, the city doesn't seem to give a damn.

It doesn't have enough money to clear the streets of snow within a reasonable amount of time or patch potholes because it refuses to impose a 3-cent local gas tax to pay for these basic services. Plus, there is no state sales tax or local sales tax to fall back on.

Almost every major city in the state has a local gas tax, which is tacked on after state and federal gas taxes.

Obviously, Bend is still a minor city because the city council caves to the sky-will-fall, anti-tax cabal anytime a local gas tax even gets mentioned.

Since Bend is largely a tourist town, you would think that city leaders would want to showcase how well it takes care of its roads in summer and winter.

Obviously, it doesn't.

And, it doesn't care about its elder citizens who have to clear small hills of snow in front of their driveways.

Maybe we should all get oxygen tanks.

Bend city councilors ousted

Voters in Bend took out their frustrations with a city that continually raises water and sewer rates while asking nothing more from developers who require the expansion of those services.

Plus, the city council's recent, tepid approval of the westside location for OSU-Cascades help cost Mark Capell and Scott Ramsay their seats.

And, good riddance. They were inept and shills for the real estate/development crowd.

Speaking of OSU-Cascades, the group Truth In Site, that opposes the westside location, officially filed an appeal with the state Land Use Board of Appeals. Hopefully, this ties up the issue long enough at the state level until the OSU "brain trust" reverses course and puts OSU-Cascades where it belongs at Juniper Ridge.

Also, the state knows Bend has big problems managing its growth by its repeated inability to satisfy state requirements in expanding its urban growth boundary.

Republican Knute Buehler, who easily won the state House seat for Bend, won't be much help because Democrats expanded their control of both chambers in the legislature.

Buehler, who is actually a RINO and easily turned away a voter suppression effort by Oregon Right to Life, will have to work with Democrats to accomplish anything. And, as we've seen before, those Republicans who compromise with Democrats will quickly find themselves voted out by their own party.

Buehler doesn't really care about serving in the legislature anyway. His goal is statewide office and he'll be preening himself for higher office over the next couple of years.

In other election news, voters in Sisters gave a rare rebuke to the school district as it sought $14.5 million to repair relatively new schools and buy computer tablets for students. The dismissal of the longtime manager of the bus system, just shy of her 30-year service to the district, rubbed many voters the wrong way.

The district  was hoping to use the bond money to keep class sizes down and maintain a full school year. Well, the school district will now have to shorten the school year to balance its books.

Lastly, two statewide measures were defeated: GMO labeling and an open primary.

It was surprising that the open-primary measure lost so badly, 68 percent to 32 percent, considering that similar measures passed in neighboring Washington and California.

While the GMO label measure is headed for defeat, it is clear that $20 million in negative advertising did its job, just as mega-millions from Monsanto and others did in Washington and California.

Of course, shoppers are taking matters in their hands and looking to buy more non-GMO items.

And, some growers, food producers and retailers are seeing the benefit in promoting non-GMO foods.

This country is losing business around the world by not reining in the pro-GMO entities. Much of the developed world wants no part of GMO foods and, increasingly, don't want GMO products from America.

Dems rout GOP in Oregon; weed legalized

Democrats on Tuesday retained the governorship, a Senate seat, four of five House seats and clear majorities in the state Senate and House.

Voters approved the full legalization of marijuana that many believe will steal business from neighboring Washington, which legalized pot in 2012. You can own much more weed in Oregon and it'll be taxed less.

Yes, Republicans control both chambers of Congress in D.C., but, if their first order of business is to impeach President Obama, they'll guarantee defeat in 2016.

In Oregon, Gov. John Kitzhaber eked out another victory for an unprecedented fourth term in spite of the fact that he was the most vulnerable Democrat to hold that office in a generation. From health care to education, he failed badly. His fiancee, Cylvia Hayes, brought nothing but bad press over the past two months.

And yet, the Republican Party put forth a "guaranteed loser" in Dennis Richardson, an extremist from southern Oregon.

Speaking of "guaranteed loser," an epithet that former Sen. Bob Packwood applied to Monica Wehby's primary opponent Jason Conger, Wehby was trounced by incumbent Sen. Jeff Merkley. Unlike Richardson, she couldn't even carry Deschutes County, which is reliably "red."

Plus, Democrats broadened their control of the state Senate and maintained their eight-seat control of the House. Voters elsewhere may have wanted a change to Republicans, but not in Oregon, thank god.

The GOP in Oregon is pathetic.

To consoles themselves for the next few years, Republicans can now get legally stoned. They'll be better off if they do.

2014 election: Time to panic?

Wehby, Buehler are this year's RINOs

The good news about the general election is that we only have a week left of negative TV ads, throw-away political fliers and constant robo-calls.

The bad news is that we still have a week left of all that garbage.

Since it is a non-presidential election, the media tell us that the opposition party, the Republicans, stand to make big gains by winning control of both houses of Congress.

We shall see.

There is a general crankiness out there in spite of the fact that the economy is doing better than it has in a decade, the stock market is at record highs and gas prices are well below $3 a gallon in some places.

But, good news doesn't sell TV ads or whatever newspaper fill their pages with these days.

Not that ebola or ISIS or the Ukraine aren't news, it's just that they have little or no effect on anything in America.

So, when all else fails, push the panic button of irrationality.

That always works.

Or, at least until the election is over and then it will be back to 24/7 coverage of the next iPhone.

But, all the bloviation doesn't seem to have much impact here in Oregon.

In Deschutes County, ballot returns, in our vote-by-mail system, were at just 17 percent as of Friday. At this rate, we'll likely get in the 60 percent range next week, which is generally good news for Republicans, who usually need less voter turnout to win and the reason why they push to suppress the vote across the country.

Four years ago, the turnout, inspired by tea-baggers, reached nearly 73 percent.

Well, that party is over.

The usual social issues are absent from the Oregon ballot this time around. Plus, the Republicans running for the Senate and our local state House seat both back abortion rights and same-sex marriage.

Yes, they're Republicans in Name Only or RINOs.

That's the real news.

Monica Wehby, though, will likely lose her bid for the Senate by a double-digit margin, but Knute Buehler should win the local House seat comfortably.

Naturally, during the primary, Wehby and Buehler obscured their views on those issues in order to win the votes of the social conservatives out there.

After securing their primary victories they tacked to the center in order to win over the non-affiliated voters, which make up a quarter of the electorate.

Well, Oregon Right to Life (ORtL) felt used and sent out a postcard urging their like-minded citizens to not vote for Buehler. "Leave the ballot line BLANK," the group wrote.

ORtL claims that Buehler has "joined with other Republicans here in Oregon to push the Republican Party to support abortion on demand."

Once upon a time, Oregon Right to Life could have a major impact on statewide elections. But, that NRA-type of influence will be severely tested this time around.

Buehler is betting that he'll win over enough non-affiliated voters to offset the "voter suppression" attempt by ORtL.

But, should he lose, it will send a big message to other GOP candidates that opposition to abortion is the most important issue to rank-and-file Republicans.

If Buehler wins, the war over social issues will finally fade away.

"This would leave pro-lifers with no party that supports their values," ORtL wrote.

Or, ORtL will form its own party and siphon off votes from future GOP hopefuls.

We can only hope.