Some of you might already know that I lead a double life.
Well, triple, if you count my ongoing Walter Mitty-esque fantasy in which I conquer, if only in my head, the world of professional golf during my several times a week eighteen holes on my local Par 3 version of Pebble Beach.
As to the double, well, in addition to this primarily politically themed commentary, I produce and host a weekly, hourly music oriented podcast featuring, primarily, oldies. Although oldies is, depending on one's age, a relative term.
For a long time, the running gag was "hey, did you know that Paul McCartney was in a band before Wings?"
These days, that little witty very often results in a glazed expression and the response "....uh, who's Wings?"
The only reason I even mention the music podcast, other than, of course, the opportunity to shamelessly self promote The Boomer Show, available at sepradionetwork.com and on ITunes, is to borrow from myself an observation about life, time and perspective that comes in handy with today's commentary.
Comes in the form of a catchphrase I use on the music podcast, The Boomer Show, available at sepradionetwork.com and on ITunes.
Everything oldies is new again,
Today's case in point has to do with religion, such as it is, politics, the kind with the distinct aroma of religion on it...and nutrition, in the form of keeping your pet healthy and happy.
You're going to have to have faith that I can bring all of that together and make sense of it for you.
But, hey, what's not to trust? I don't really have any reason to lie to you. It's not like I'm running for office or anything.
Bringing, if not the sheaves, then all of it together happens shortly.
Acclaimed songwriter Hugh Prestwood said it eloquently in a piece he wrote and Trisha Yearwood recorded a few years back.
The song remembers when.
That was, of course, Prestwood's lyrical inside/out turning of one of life's more poignant features, the emotional attachment, in the form of memories, that our favorite songs inspire and instill in us.
In a less polished, more work a day world fashion, the same thing can be said for the song's most often smart alecky cousin...the jingle.
The dictionary offers up its usual no frills, Cliff Notes explanation for those in need of explanation.
Jingle. Noun. A short slogan, verse or tune designed to be easily remembered, especially as used in advertising.
And, as we all know, no matter what generation we call our own, if a jingle does its work correctly, easily remembered is exactly what it is.
Sometimes, for a lifetime.
For those concerned, at this point, about where we might be going with this train of thought, rest assured our destination is not twenty minutes on the history of jingles, complete with earworm inducing playback. So relax and spend a few minutes as another important point gets made. If you have a few minutes.
In fact, if you've got the time..........we've got the beer.
Bet your ass, easily remembered.
Among my other nefarious activities during a brightly checkered past, I've not only enjoyed jingles, I have written and composed them. Even won an award here or there. But, as I mentioned, this commentary isn't the time or the place to be sprinkling slogans for no other reason than shameless self sprinkling.
For that, you'll want to log on and download The Boomer Show at sepradionetwork.com, also available on ITunes.
I actually bring up the whole jingle thing, or jingle thingle if I was thinking of ear-worming you, because one long ago favorite popped into my head as I was reading an online post from a pretty obviously religiously based political action committee disguised as a family advocacy group and one comment in particular from what I feel very safe in betting is a zealous advocate of said pretty obviously religiously based political action committee disguised as a family advocacy group.
And, given all of that, it makes only perfect sense that the jingle that popped into said head was a fun favorite of the 1960's.
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- My dog's faster than your dog,
- My dog's bigger than yours.
- My dog's better 'cause he gets Ken-L Ration,
- My dog's better than yours.
Goes without saying, of course, that you can call one a success if it still rings people's bells fifty years later.
Like that song that stays with you forever.
Oh..and bonus trivia/synchronicity for you, the jingle there was actually a rewritten lyric to a song written a few years earlier by folk singer Tom Paxton.
But this piece isn't about folk singer Tom Paxton, his gift with a lyric, a clever re-write designed to sell more dog food.
Or dog food.
This piece is about bigotry and prejudice and narrow mindedness and, if I may be si grossier, ignorant.
In this case, in the form of an online post and comment coming from a pretty obviously religiously based political action committee disguised as a family advocacy group.
Kamala Harris, running for President, has come out in favor of legalizing prostitution.
The whys and wherefores of that idea, her stand on it, the implications of the idea in general, yada, yada is fodder for a different time.
Suffice to say that the aforementioned RBPACDAFAG was Johnny the Baptist on the spot with their professionally starched version of "ain't nobody got time for that."
"...The Left's twisted definition of "harm" to others..Part of what makes a country livable and decent over the long term are laws that support public morality, like laws against prostitution. Contrary to conventional wisdom, what happens between consenting adults doesn't only affect them. It reverberates throughout the culture."
To be expected, one of the faithful quickly posted an "amen" in the form of the following.
"...No low is too low to stoop for the Democrats. Weed, prostitution, clean needle programs, abortions, assisted suicide, illegals voting; this is who the Democrat party has become. They glory in debauchery and depravity. they need to be utterly defeated at the ballot box.".
Cue Church Lady.
"Well, now, isn't that special."
There's a problem on display here. And it's a pretty good bet that it's not the problem most people think it is.
Whoever the people. Whatever problem they think it is.
Because this particular problem is one of those that hides underneath or behind the problem or problems that are most likely to bubble up and boil over when this kind of hot topic starts cookin'.
And it would be easy, because Lord knows it's tempting, to respond, reply, even retaliate against the original post and the accompanying comment in the predictable, tried and true, but, frankly, increasingly more wearying endless cycle of back and forth that passes for discussion and debate these days.
That comeback would comeback a little something like this:
So, 'no low is too low to stoop for the Democrats'? That's all you got?
Okay. So let's say the Democrats actually do 'harm' livability and decency, damaging the public morality by advocating on behalf of 'weed, prostitution, clean needle programs, abortions, assisted suicide, illegals voting (that one is nonsensical bullshit, by the way, but let's keep the commenters' quote intact)....and 'glory in debauchery and depravity'.
For the sake of the point here, let's just say guilty as charged.
And Republicans? Or, more accurately, Trumpians, because, come on, bunky, we both know that the Republican Party as we have known it for a hundred plus years is lying scattered in pieces around the country, like an Abe Lincoln Commemorative Plate that has been thrown down on a concrete floor...
...while the Democrats are harming livability, decency, the public morality and glorying in debauchery and depravity.....all the Trumpians are doing is electing, supporting, endorsing, loving, worshiping and adoring....Donald Trump.
Adulterer. Business and tax cheat. Sexual predator. Mocker of the handicapped. Pathological liar of galactically historical proportions. Supporter/endorser/BFF of foreign dictators. Sworn enemy of foundational American institutions. Absurdly obvious dis-respecter of the U.S. Constitution. Panderer, hustler, con man. Demagogue. Possibly....even....a traitor to his country.
Snake oil salesman in a badly tailored five thousand dollar suit and an unprecedentedly bad comb over.
That's how the comeback would comeback.
Like that.
But that's simply the too predictable, tried and true, but, frankly, increasingly more wearying endless cycle of back and forth that passes for discussion and debate these days.
And while it illustrates the problem underneath, or behind, the problem, it doesn't address it.
Or identify it.
Superiority.
Not an attractive quality in anyone, at any time, under any circumstances.
More than that, an absolutely useless expression of opinion.
And a death sentence for any hope of figuring out how to productively and compassionately share space and time on the same planet for the time we are allotted on the planet.
But, just to add insult to ignorance, it takes on an even deeper uselessness when upgraded to its more common style of presentation these days.
Smug superiority.
Or, as it's both commonly, and in this case, ironically, known....
...holier than thou.
You can practically hear that commenter singing the jingle now.
My hatred's better / than your hatred
My bigotry's better / than yours
My bias is better / cause
Jesus loves me / this I know
Yeah. That's not how it usually goes.
First rule of good jingle writing.
Know your audience.
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