I'll be heading up to the north shore of Lake Superior in a couple days to see if I can get some grouse hunting in and also hopefully get some nice shots of the leaves changing up there. Down here in the Twin Cities the leaves are just starting to change, but up north they should be getting close to peak color around what passes for mountains in Minnesota. This may be Sammy's last season as a hunting dog so I'm going to try to make the most of it, gas prices be damned. Though she is apparently healthy for a dog of her age, the signs of age are starting to become more apparent and that's weighing on my mind a bit.
That and a few other things. As I tote my gun through the woods of northern Minnesota, one of the things I will ponder is how something like this can not only be spoken, but cheered by an audience in modern day America:
“If Sarah Palin isn’t enough of a reason for you to get over whatever
your problem is with Barack Obama, then you damn well had better pay
attention,” Rep. Alcee Hastings of Florida said at a panel about the
shared agenda of Jewish and African-American Democrats Wednesday.
Hastings, who is African-American, was explaining what he intended to
tell his Jewish constituents about the presidential race. “Anybody
toting guns and stripping moose don’t care too much about what they do
with Jews and blacks. So, you just think this through,” Hastings added as the room erupted in laughter and applause.
Though that comment was directly pointed at Sarah Palin, I took offense
to it as a hunter and someone who knows plenty of other hunters who go
after bigger game. Granted, I'll be going for grouse and not moose, but I don't think that distinction much matters to Hastings. Or his audience for that matter.
What an appalling and indecent thing to say. And shame on the people who laughed and cheered at it. I've long thought of Hastings as an ignorant fool who is completely lacking when it comes to integrity, but what's the audience's excuse?
Perhaps I'll get an answer from my openly gay brother's Jewish partner, a Democrat whom I truly like and respect. Or maybe I'll get the answer while I hunt the woods this weekend with my Obama-supporting openly lesbian sister and her not out partner, a woman I also like and respect.
My guess is that, though their political beliefs are on the opposite side of the aisle from mine, they will be dismayed also.
You know, this is the eighth presidential election that I've had the privilege to participate in. I have voted for candidates, I have voted for candidates reluctantly against other candidates, but I've never voted against a candidate just because of how truly vile some of his supporters are. This might very well be the first.
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