Stop The Bashing Before Someone Gets Hurt!

Whew! It's getting nasty out there. First we're inundated with images of Obama with Hitler's mustache and symbols of hate turning up on a golf course.

Then we move on to the latest in Limbaugh bashing because he wanted to become part owner of a football team. The liberal media did a hatchet job on him that was unprecedented. It is supposedly about a pattern of comments made over years about blacks. How many of them were taken out of context?

Don't get me wrong. I'm no fan of Limbaugh. He's loose with his facts but so are those doing the bashing. They all twist the facts to suit their point of view.

What worries me are the type of comments such as the one from Chris Mathews suggesting that in some point in time someone would step up to the plate and kill Limbaugh.

That's extreme even for Matthews. He did recant the next day. The clip is part of the embed above. The question is, was the damage already done? They succeeded in eliminating him from becoming part owner of the rams. Wasn't that enough?

Criticizing policy is one thing. Questioning ones suitability for ownership in a rich man's club is certainly permissible. Hate mongering is not.

It's time to tone down the rhetoric from those in the administration on down. Let's quit equating people with Hitler and the Nazis be it the President or those who disagree with him. Let's quit taking sound bites out of context and smearing a man because you don't like his politics. As irritating as Limbaugh can be, what point is to be made by lowering oneself to his level?

The liberal media lambastes any and everyone who finds fault with the President and to a lesser degree, his policies and his administration. Yet when one of their own suggests one who they dislike intensely might actually be terminated because of his views, nothing is said.

They best be careful. There are times when what goes around, comes around. Everything is cyclical. The opposition will regain power at some point, and like the elephants they claim as their symbol, they won't forget.

Then it will start all over again. Sigh.

Who The Heck IS Henry Alford?

When I received an e-mail from Henry Alford telling me he had named Dogwalk as one of his ten favorite blogs by or about seniors as requested by Blogs.com I was, of course, delighted.

As he requested, I made mention of it on my blog. The fact that he introduced himself as a contributor to the New York Times and Vanity Fair did not escape me. When I went to his web site to investigate further I was taken by his youth. Why would such a young man have a blog about seniors?

The answer was readily apparent. He has a book due to be released in January 2009. The title made me laugh. How to Live: A Search for Wisdom From Old People (While They Are Still on this Earth). Well, he is a humorist!

In it he interviews everyone from celebrities to the eccentric to the accomplished anonymous. He speaks of tremendously personal moments in dealings with his own family, pathos and hilarity. A story about everyman and everywoman. Us. Because we are "old". (I told him how much I dislike the term elder though I had no other to offer in return!)

I have read books on aging by professionals who "study" us and those of us undergoing the experience. I am looking forward to reading one by an outsider looking in. I am a huge advocate of cross generational communication. It helps keep me on my toes and hopefully those I talk with also take away something of value.

It would seem this very thing was part of Henry's motivation. When asked about the inspiration for the book by Ron Hogan of Publisher's Weekly, he had this to say, "I'm fascinated with the idea that humans are one of the few species whose average lifespan exceeds the age at which they procreate. Why? What's the evolutionary reason? I think it's because old people are living libraries...and we as a culture really overlook that."

It's encouraging to me that a man like Henry Alford has come to this realization. Of course we "elders" have been trying to tell the world this truth for some time now. As I've talked about on several occasions, blogging is giving us our voice.

Here is a man, and I hope there are more like him waiting in the wings, who can tell our story. Not the stuff we dwell on, the aches and pains and frustrations of dealing with an inattentive medical community or which new malady has popped up just this morning. We do that well enough among ourselves. But the story of who we are because of who we were. The living library part. In doing so maybe he can put his finger on just why we as a culture really overlook that.

Thanks Henry.

In The "Swim" Of Things!

Congratulations Michael Phelps and hooray for the USA! It's enough to put politics aside for at least one post!

A new generation of champion is emerging, breaking long held records with the aid of modern technology along with good old American fortitude. I hope a new attitude is part of the equation.

Yesterday there was commentary by Steve Politi of the Newark Star Ledger suggesting that Mark Spitz should have been there to congratulate the young man who broke the record he, Spitz, held for 36 years. He was not.

Mr. Spitz, to those of us who remember him, may have held the record but certainly not the Olympic spirit. He was arrogant when he won and apparently his ego is no less today. He'd have made a good modern day politician. It was always about him. When he didn't get what he felt was his due, he pouted.

He'd do well to remember that but for a quirk of physiology, he may have never have held the record. His knees hyper-extended, giving him incredible depth and leverage and a physical advantage over his competition.

Not being a follower of the swimming world, I lost track of Mark Spitz about the time his Wheaties box disappeared from the super market shelves. So I did a Google search to see what he's been doing with his life since. There wasn't much there other than reiterating his record in light of the likelihood of it being surpassed.

What was there was his web page . His biography gave this information. "Mark is a highly requested public speaker throughout the World. He has also executed endorsements for Xerox, Kodak, Bausch & Lomb, John Hancock Financial Services, General Motors, General Mills, Swatch and many others. Mark will continue to be a very hot commodity as long as there is an Olympic Games somewhere in the world or the desire by a group to hear from one of the greatest living legends of all-time in sports."

It sounds like he's done little other than hype products he probably never used and lived on speaking fees generated by an accomplishment long past.

As Mr. Politi's article stated, Mr. Phelps will learn that his role as ambassador for his sport will be nearly as important as his accomplishments. There are many world class athletes from whom he can learn this lesson and these skills. It is a shame it won't be from Mr. Spitz.

The Perfect Oxymoron

Yep. Perfect. Pamela Anderson doing a "reality" show. I've just got to ask, what about Pamela Anderson is remotely "real"?

Let's see. She's living with Tommy Lee, one of her former husbands. She isn't ruling out the possibility of their getting back together. Other than being on Bay Watch she is most well know for various "sex" tapes. She was married to Kid Rock for less than four months. Just your average ordinary girl next door!

"Girl on the Loose" is to provide a look into Anderson's everyday life. I didn't realize they could put this stuff on TV. Or maybe it's going to air on one of those special pay channels. The article on Yahoo news didn't say.

An admitted exhibitionist, she says she's not sure why she's doing it except "it was an incredible deal." I have a hunch that means it's paying a bundle.

Sanity does make an appearance however. She has insisted her children not be included. That of course has nothing to do with the reality of everyday life but is at least prudent.

Oh, yeah. I almost forgot. She backs Obama for President. She says her kids want to be like him. We now know who has the gray matter in that household!