BUT FOR THE GRACE OF GOVERNMENT.....

.....go all of us. Listen, there's nothing happening in the woods. The deer are sticking to the fields. I haven't had the string back once. So, in lieu of hunting stories, lets talk politics. Dinosaur I am, I came of age in the late 60's. Of course I was immediately drawn to the counter-culture of long hair, protest, rock music and "fuck you" politics. LBJ was in the White House and I was stuck in a "cow plop" high school in upstate NY. We called them that because they always built them in cow pastures.  The Vietnam War was raging and at 16 you were already choosing sides- school or draft? I took my II-S draft deferment, grew may hair long and went to every protest i could get to. In the Spring of 1970 National Guard troops turned their guns on a group of students at Kent State. Damn. maybe a student deferment wouldn't keep me out of the line of fire.

I don't watch the debates. They are just too predictable. I'm not a sports fan, so I don't even care about the World Series. As a nature program on snowy owls grinds on on PBS I fall asleep on the couch, thinking of the two girls from Pussy Riot heading for a cold winter in the Russian gulag. As everyone knows, these young women were arrested by Russian authorities on a charge of "hooliganism" for doing a "Punk Rock Prayer" on the alter of a Russian Orthodox church. They now face two years hard labor in Siberia. This brings me back to the 60's.
    In those days it was common to hear an adult say "I don't agree with your protest but I will defend your right to do it. Be happy you didn't grow up in Russia. They put people in jail for talking out." On the eve of another Presidential election, fearing Romney may just squeak in, I think back to just how many asshole Presidents this country has survived during just my lifetime.  This country may be far from perfect, but like Zuckerberg putting birthdays on facebook, the genius of electing a new fearless leader every 4 years, has saved our ass.
   In December The Party of The Little Green Man will present A PUSSY RIOT XMAS. The jailing of these artists hits home for many of us who realize how many times over a career we would have been arrested for doing what we do. Aside from the predictable foolishness that comes with every "church", I want to do something real for these women. I'm working behind the scenes to find out just what they need and how to get it to them. So far I've only heard books translated into Russian. I would think a warm pair of socks or long johns would also be appreciated. All this info is coming. So fear not. Even if Romney gets elected he's only got four years to fuck things up. How bad can it get?